A Warless Society
by Flucy
Summary: Tris Prior has just made it through Dauntless Initiation and is ready to start her new life in the Dauntless compound, with Tobias, Christina, Uriah & co. No war comes, though, and she settles in for her new home in Dauntless, where she has a 'normal' life. DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth.
1. Chapter 1

**_DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing a short extract of her work and her characters._**

 ** _"_** ** _You think a hug would give away too much?" He says._**

 ** _"_** ** _You know," I say, "I really don't care."_**

 ** _I stand on my tiptoes and press my lips to his._**

 ** _It is the best moment of my life._**

 ** _–_** ** _Divergent, 2011, Veronica Roth_**

I pull away as I sense Christina's eyes boring a hole through the back of my head and I turn to face her. Her face reads surprised and mildly glad at the unexpected display of affection, as if she's happy for me, but I can see the neglect and hurt in her eyes. She thinks I've been hiding things from her, like I can't be trusted, like I'm withholding information from her. I find it slightly strange that she knows when someone is lying just by watching and learning their nervous habits but doesn't find the words I clearly avoid and don't say at all suspicious. I think about this and then realise that she left Candor for a reason.

For a moment, I ignore her and steal a glance at Tobias, eyes softened and lips curled in a triumphant smile and he pulls me into a hug, my feet almost leaving the ground. I laugh as Uriah wolf whistles in the background and Tobias releases me, grinning but wary of the surrounding Dauntless staring. He leans in close to my ear.

"Tris, I need to go dismiss you all. Technically," he adds with a smirk, "I'm still your instructor."

I give him a slight smile and he disappears into the clamour of initiates. Someone taps my shoulder and I spin around to find Will with a hungry stare for information, one that only a former Erudite could possess.

"Are you going to explain when _that_ happened?" He asks. "Or are you going to leave us hanging?"

I can't hide it from them any longer. "He kissed me at Al's funeral," I say. When you put it like that, it seems like his timing could not have been worse; remembering your friend's death with your first kiss. "As much as I wanted to tell you, I couldn't, in case people thought the rankings were biased. And what about Peter? He couldn't find out about us– he's handing with a knife."

Christina raises her eyebrows and shakes her head in disbelief, a smile playing at her lips and Will's cheeks dimple. They seem to have forgotten about how I failed to provide them with something to quench their curiosity, maybe even stop Christina's seemingly incessant chatter of love and Will and everything that comes with it.

"When I think about it," she says, "it's hard to believe I missed it."

Will's eyebrows crease. "Because you're – were – a Candor?"

"Was I the only one who noticed how Four shrugged off the fact Tris absent-mindedly slapped him across the face?" She says, as if it is the most obvious thing in the world. "If I did that, he'd probably retaliate and kill me!" Christina's hand gestures are wild and uncontrolled, arms flailing about, knowingly exaggerating the point. Will scoffs and hits Christina's shoulder, gently, but hard enough to show some importance. He mumbles something I can't hear from where I'm stood and she laughs lightly, pausing only to another screech from the microphone.

Lauren and Tobias perch on the edge of the table Eric was stood on just a minute ago when he showed us the final initiation rankings.

"Welcome to Dauntless." I am engulfed in painfully loud roars as the words leave Lauren's mouth, echoing throughout the whole compound, cheers reverberating off the walls, projecting voices and I can't help but grin and join in, howls contagious and unstoppable. The noise eventually dies down and Lauren taps the microphone several times to regain attention. She reads out the Dauntless Manifesto and mentions something about choosing jobs but I can't differentiate her voice from the ringing in my ears.

The microphone screams and I zone back in again as it is passed to Tobias, who gives her a look that she sniggers at. His eyes flit helplessly around the room, and unable to think of anything to say he blurts out, "Go, I guess." Causing ripples of yells of joy and in some cases, laughter - from those who noticed Tobias's hesitance in what to say - but in a matter of seconds everyone is thrown into a pandemonium. If I were still in Abnegation, I would frown upon the inconsiderate noise and unorganised rabble struggling to the exit but until you are part of the movement, you'd never understand it.

Tobias tosses the microphone to Lauren and hops precariously down from the table into a small clearing, toppling onto Zeke as he loses his balance. Tossing Tobias off his back roughly, Zeke laughs and I jog over to them, pushing against the flow of the crowd, a fish swimming upstream.

"And you call me clumsy." I offer a hand to Tobias and pull him onto his feet.

"I don't make a habit of stumbling around," he says, "but at least I don't almost fall off Ferris wheels." I roll my eyes at him and he puts and arm around my waist. I tense slightly. I can tell that this feels strange for him, too. The way he stiffens at my touch, his loose grip. Admittedly, it's rather awkward but, trying to incorporate some Dauntless into my life style, I ignore it, shaking the shiver that runs down my spine.

"Beatrice?"

"Today isn't _that_ special," I quickly remind him, wincing at my full name. "Besides, it doesn't suit me; it suits a plain stiff, and as of a few minutes ago, I am now officially Dauntless."

He smiles. "Tris?"

"Better."

"Do you want to come back to my apartment or do you need to go to your dormitory?" he says.

"I don't need to be anywhere," I say, "but I should probably talk to Christina about some things." He looks a little disheartened but it barely shows through. He takes my hand and we walk back to the dorms, comfortable quietness hanging in the air.

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* * *

Christina and Will are chatting amiably when I arrive back at the dormitory, sat side by side and leaning into each other. All conversation abruptly ceases when I enter the room and I am certain my cheeks are flushed a rosy shade of pink.

 _What's to be embarrassed about?_ I think to myself. _I just ranked first. I beat the Dauntless-borns,_ and raise my chin, as if an epiphany granted me an aura of confidence. I plonk down on the bed opposite Christina and Will and untie my left combat boot. Christina wrinkles her nose in disapproval and I scrunch my face, confused.

"What have I done?" I joke, tugging at my shoe forcibly, only to Christina's further disgust.

"Those shoes!" She exclaims. Feigning a distraught look, she adds, "Have I taught you nothing?" At which Will and I snort unintelligibly. I yank the other boot off my foot and taunt her with it, waving the shoe in front of her nose. She presses her face into Will's shoulder and blindly pushes it away.

"What do you have against Tris's shoes?" asks Will, twiddling the lace of his own boots between his fingers.

"Treat your shoes with respect, Tris, and they will serve you a lifetime." I probably wouldn't have guffawed at this if Christina didn't look so serious, as if concerned for the well being of my shoes. Will grins and walks over to his own bed, and I do the same thing.

There is a black bag tucked neatly under my bed frame and I crouch down to pull it out. It is labelled _Tris Prior – R1_ , which I can only guess stands for Rank 1. I slide my few personal items into the provided bag and perch on the edge of the bed, lips tugging up at the corners of my mouth, curving into a lopsided smile. I'm Dauntless now. It has only just sunk in and in a moment of realisation, I can't stifle the laughs. This is my home now, it's where I belong.

My smile fades. "Stiff." That cold voice came 5th in the rankings, and I presume he wants to know how I did it.

"If anything," I say, "I'm more Dauntless than you are." I smirk a little and lean back, propped up on one elbow.

"How did you do it?" He asks, striding over towards me. "How did you cheat?"

I look him straight in the eye. "I didn't."

"Come on, Stiff. I'm not stupid." From where I'm sat, only I can see the cruelness of his small, patronising smile, masked by the innocence of his voice.

"For an Erudite, you could be smarter," I scoff, "No wonder you left." The way he stalks off is a worse sign than if he simply threw a punch at me; it means he is plotting. I shudder, knowing that the repercussions from whatever he does will be more permanent than what Molly did. The consequence for outranking him in the simulations could have been death.

"Tris." Christina bats at my shoulder and I turn to face her. "I thought we'd lost you then. Will and I were just about to head off for dinner. Coming?"

I nod and stuff my bag under my bed and start to walk to the dining hall.

As Will and Christina giddily sprint ahead, I hang behind, dawdling, so I can mull some things over. Tomorrow, I need to choose a job, something that I will be doing for the rest of my life and I must enjoy it. I told Christina before we discovered our rankings that I wanted to be a Dauntless Ambassador but because I ranked first, I can be anything. Training transfers with Four would be fun, as would working with Tori. I could even be a Dauntless Leader.

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I'm dragging my feet along the floor slowly when someone grabs me roughly from behind, pulling me off my feet and squeezing me tightly, thrusting the air from my lungs. I thrash about and elbow them hard in the face, in the nose, making the attacker yell. _Who could it be? Peter wouldn't attack me here, I haven't provoked Molly or Drew, Al's dead._ I wince at the morbid thought. I stomp on a foot, crushing my heel into their instep. As their pain reflexes kick in, their grip loosens and I break free from their grasp, spinning quickly around to see them, pacing backwards, shielding my face with my fists, knuckles white and poised strategically in front of me. I lower them immediately when I see who it is.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I run up to Uriah who is rubbing his nose and stalling blood with his sleeve. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he mumbles. "I just wasn't expecting that."

"Neither," I say, guiltily, staring at the floor.

Uriah chuckles. "I'm Dauntless, this happens all the time. You don't have to look so worried!"

I smile gratefully. "I'll get used to it eventually." I pause, trying to think of words to say while Uriah wipes blood off his upper lip. "Why did you jump on me anyway?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," he says, "obviously it doesn't look as great now."

A laugh hitches up my throat and comes out as more of a happy pant than anything else.

"Another question," I say, "how do you walk so quietly?" Uriah is by no means small, yet he managed to make only muffled pads on the stone floor, that I ignored, presuming they were my own.

"I was hardly quiet," he snorts, grinning, "you were just thinking too hard."

I consider this for a moment and have to admit he's right. I wonder how he can tell that I was deep in thought. We stand in near silence for a few minutes, the quietude only broken when Uriah sniffs blood back up his nose.

"I'm hungry," Uriah blurts out urgently, "do you mind if we crack onward to the dining hall? Presuming that is where you are going."

"Yeah," I say, "That was where I was headed. Let's go."

"What took you guys so long?" Christina jumps out of her seat and trots over to us.

"We had a little," I search for the right word and glance at Uriah. "Incident."

I clamber onto the bench beside Will, opposite Tobias and snatch a bread roll off the tray of food in front of me. I tear a chunk off and pop it into my mouth.

"Hey brother," Zeke calls from the other side of the table, "what happened to your face?" Uriah points at me and I blush sheepishly.

"Tris hit me," he whines, jokingly. Tobias's head whips around.

"Did you really hit Uriah in the face?"

"I didn't mean to," I object, "I just wasn't expecting someone to creep up on me and jump on my back without announcing their presence." I glare at Uriah and he shrugs, popping a crumb of cake into his mouth.

"That's kind of your fault," Zeke declares, "little brother."

"Why am I now little brother, Ezekiel?" Uriah remarks, harmlessly. Zeke gets the wrong idea, however, reaches over the table and smacks his brother sharply on the ear.

"Don't call me that," he orders, sitting back down. "My name is Zeke."

Uriah tentatively touches his hand to his ear. "Why is everyone hitting me today? Does anyone else want to hit me?"

"I'd like to," chirps Lynn cheerfully. She stands up and bats him around the head. Plonking back down onto the bench, she simpers and Uriah chokes back fake tears.

Paying no attention to Uriah's fake snivels, I decide to join in the conversation. "So what job are you guys going to choose?"


	2. Chapter 2

**_Heya! I just thought I'd let you know, I have read all of the Divergent trilogy and Four, so if you are wondering where I got most of my information on how the dining system works, I'd recommend you read Four, which mentions a bit about the food. And after a couple of chapters, should I jump ahead to the new initiates? -Flucy_**

 ** _DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters._**

 ** _Tris P.O.V_**

Uriah quickly perks up. "I was going to train the Dauntless-borns with Lynn."

"Oh, and me!" Christina pipes up, nodding her head vigorously as she sprinkles a handful of cake crumbs in her mouth. I take a bite out of my dinner roll. I still don't know what I'll do for a job. I'll have to decide quickly, though, and I'm not sure how quickly I can decide my career's fate. Do I become an ambassador like I told Christina I would become before I found out my rank, do I become a leader like Eric will want me to become, do I train transfers with Tobias, commemorating my incredible initiation a fortnight a year, do I work with Tori in the tattoo parlour, stencilling ink into someone's skin, do I-

"What do you think you'll do, Tris?" Tobias asks, taking a sip of his orange juice.

Biting my lip, I shake my head. "I have no idea," I admit. "Not a clue." The table is silent, no one speaks. Tobias looks slightly worried and he purses his lips. Zeke stares down at his plate, Christina and Uriah sit still, and their hands tucked neatly in their lap. Tobias is the only person looking at me, and he is staring directly into my eyes, as if trying to force me into something, scare me into submission. His midnight blue eyes unreadable, expression emotionless and void. I don't know what he wants me to say. What does he want from me? I need to say something, the tranquillity is eerie, not like the typical Dauntless chatter, shouting and bellowing, voices echoing around the room.

"I was thinking," I start aimlessly. I haven't been thinking about anything and I'm not sure why I even began with a lie. I shake my head and try to recover. "Transfer training, maybe?" Tobias nods his head and he smiles, looking rather smug, pleased, and a weight lifts off my chest, my shoulders relax and I breathe a sigh of relief.

"I could live with that," he says, "I could live with that very easily, in fact."

I smile gratefully and discreetly reach for his hand under the table, interlocking my fingers with his in a reassuring squeeze before letting my grip loose, arm retracting back to my side. I catch his gaze and only break away when Christina speaks.

"That would be amazing!" She sprays chocolatey crumbs onto the table, and whilst Uriah finds this hilarious, the rest of us shuffle away from her. Christina wipes her sleeve across the table. Zeke sticks out his tongue and pretends to gag and Christina whacks him on the arm with her caked arm and he jumps backwards, rubbing furiously at his shoulder down to his elbow. Christina rolls her eyes and takes another bite out of her cake.

Zeke points over towards the cutlery. "You know even the Dauntless are allowed to use napkins?"

Uriah sniggers. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone use those, Zeke. I think they're gathering dust."

"Fair enough."

"Besides," says Christina, "they're all the way over there, and I don't want to have to get up."

I tear a chunk off my dinner roll and nibble it. I just told everyone that I am going to become a transfer initiate trainer, but that only lasts two weeks of the year. I have 50 more weeks to fill with another job. Tori will probably take me in as a training artist, if I wanted, and there's always the control room. Or leadership. I'm struggling to make my mind up on what I need to do and I have to have chosen and reported to Eric by tomorrow, and I don't see that happening. I picture myself sweating about what I should do and forgetting everything important, ending up with a job no one wants to do. Christina will probably be a nurse when she's not training, Uriah could follow in his brother's footsteps and Lynn always wanted to work in tattooing. I can't picture myself doing any of those things. Maybe I should be an ambassador, like I originally planned. No, I've just told everyone what I'm going to become.

I feel Uriah pawing at my arm and I turn to face him.

"I need your opinion on something," he says, "control room or piercings with Lynn?"

"Remind me why you're asking me?" I say, smoothing a hand over my hair. "Shouldn't you be the one that decides?"

"Yeah, I guess I should be but I don't know what to do."

"If I were you," I suggest, "I'd work with your brother. But that's only because I don't really fancy shoving metal through people's faces."

Uriah chuckles. "I didn't consider that. I don't mind getting piercings but I probably wouldn't like giving them. Thanks, Tris," he adds sincerely.

"No problem."

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* * *

I've never really understood what the quote on Tobias's wall means. 'Fear God Alone'. For the boy with his fear permanently embedded into his skin in strikes the width of a belt, it doesn't make much sense to me that he wants to remind himself that he shouldn't be scared of the perpetrator of the scars. I might be misinterpreting it. It doesn't have any meaning to me, but I guess I wasn't the one that spray-painted it in my apartment.

"Would you like anything?" Tobias asks, sitting on his bed next to me, a glass in one hand and the other arm sliding slowly around my waist and I bite my lip.

"I'm fine," I say quietly.

"I thought I told you that you could tell me anything, Tris." His voice is stern and he pulls his arm back so he can look at my face. His brows are knitted and lips in a thin line.

"I'm just thinking."

"You're worrying."

I correct myself. "Yes. I'm worrying about choosing my job," I say, rubbing my face with my hands. "I know I want to train transfers with you. I think that's sorted."

"But?"

"But training lasts 14 days so I need another job," I say. My trouble sounds puny and inferior compared to some people, who barely made it into Dauntless. I made it so far into Dauntless I'm already lost. "Eric will want to see me for leadership, but I don't think I want to do that. Uriah wants to work with Zeke, Lynn in piercings, Christina in nursing and I don't fit in anywhere."

"What about the tattoo parlour?" he says, "assuming you don't want to work in retail. They have to have someone stuck behind a counter." I raise my eyebrows at him and he snorts.

"I was thinking about working with Tori, but I can't bring myself to draw on people with ink that doesn't wash off." I sound hopeless and tired, speaking quickly, getting whole sentences out in one breath.

"Were you ever any good at drawing?"

I think for a moment. I once did a drawing in school when I was younger and it turned out quite well; detailed, but not complicated, neat but retaining flow and a free shape. I had drawn a symbol for a faction that should exist, in my opinion, for a competition. Winning was considered as self-centred so we didn't actually have a winner to for contest, but it did turn out just as hoped.

"Yeah," I say, shrugging. "I was pretty good. Why'd you ask?"

"Why don't you _design_ the tattoos," he suggests, kissing the top of my head. "All you'd have to do is ask people what sort of things they might want as a tattoo and draw something."

I bite my lip grinning. I'm trading out my pencils for ink and paper for skin, arms are my new canvas. I picture myself sat at the back of the parlour sketching and editing tattoos to suit people's taste. It sounds like a good idea to me. "You are a genius."

Tobias beams and stands up, smoothing the crumples in his shirt flat. He paces over to a small table and picks up a little black book. Intrigued, I sit up, and he hands the book to me. It's made of dark leather and has the word 'Dauntless' etched onto the cover. Tugging the small elastic fastener, I open it, to find all of the pages are completely blank. I flick through the pages and stop at a turned corner, right in the middle of the book. I unfurl the corner and glance at the page. It is the only lined page in the book.

"Tobias?" He places his glass of water down on the floor and raises a quizzical brow. "Why is there only one lined page in this book?"

He tilts his head slightly to one side and shuffles a bit closer, peering over my shoulder. He takes the book from my hands, stands up and walks off. He stares at it, baffled, then pouts.

"This wasn't like this when Tori gave it me." He says.

"So it's a different book?" I ask.

"No," he says, to my surprise. "Look at the lines." He passes me the book and I scrutinise the lines and see nothing strange.

"I don't see anything."

He points at a section of the page. "Smudged ink. Someone drew the lines on. You can see how the ink has run."

I don't know what to say. He gave me a book Tori gave him and is confused as to why it has lines on a single page. I understand that he might be worried about someone breaking into his apartment, but drawing some lines in a book isn't much of a terrible crime. I stand up, walk over to where he's stood after pacing the room several times, and kiss him briefly on the lips, one hand on the nape of his neck, the other resting above his hip bone. This way, I still don't have to say anything. I shut my eyes and he presses his forehead to mine, and I have to stand on my tiptoes to reach him. We stay like this for a few minutes, and I feel his warm breaths on my face, routinely blowing strands of hair from my face.

"Didn't you agree to meet Christina at the tattoo parlour?" he says. My eyes widen in alarm and I pull back to find Tobias grinning. He dips his head in the direction of a clock above the red words. I twizzle around and sigh. Grabbing my jacket, I sprint out of the door, quickly hurrying goodbyes, the doorknob already clenched tightly in my fist. Tobias waves mockingly and I stick my tongue out as the door slams shut.

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Lynn is lying on her front, eyes shut on a black leather table when I arrive. Her shirt is pulled up and jeans tugged down, and Bud is staring intently at a quote he's writing in a fine red pen, Christina straining her neck over his shoulder to see how it looks. Neither of the girls nor Bud has noticed me and when I jump onto Christina's back she screams, making Bud flinch and glare at her. He pulls a sanitary wipe from a small box and carefully rubs an error off Lynn's hip bone. Christina elbows me and I let out a barely audible yelp. Lynn snorts, an eye now open.

"Did you forget about us?" She immediately asks.

"No," I say, feebly. Christina raises an eyebrow. I reconsider. "Maybe, yes. I forgot. Sorry." Christina doesn't say anything, but I wasn't inviting much conversation with my answer.

"Anyway," Lynn says, cheerful. "Come look at my tattoo." She motions me over and I peer at her hip bone. There is just some words written in red pen.

"Has a new tattooing pen been developed?" I say to both Bud and Lynn.

Bud chuckles. "No, she's just started getting it done. On more detailed tattoos I draw them on first in pen, so I can then get better accuracy when I begin to ink."

Lynn cuts him off. "It says 'freedom from fear'. It's from the Dauntless manifesto. Cool, right?"

I nod. Freedom from fear. It sounds like something from the fear simulations; you can only be free from your fears if you face them head on, in a situation that will probably never occur. Although, putting it simply, you can never be free from your fears. _Becoming fearless isn't the point,_ I remember Tobias telling me this during initiation. It's learning how to think in the midst of fear that's important, but I don't think a circumstance in which I'm pecked to death by crows will ever arise, and I'm glad.

"Tris, come look which one I'm getting." Christina drags me off by my arm and I offer a smile to Lynn. We weave through swarms of people. Some of them have tattoos on their faces, their bodies more ink than skin. Eventually Christina stops by a drawing held to the wall by a single pin. Wisps of fire spiral upwards from a thin green stalk, covered in thorns. The petals have been replaced with a blaze, a fire curling into the petal's former place, before turning to a pile of ash and smouldering cinders. It looks as if a rose has been set alight

"Where are you going to get it?" I ask.

"I was thinking I could get it," she pauses to flip her head forwards and bend over. She runs a finger down her spine. The rose will grow up her back. "Just about here. Do you like it?"

"Definitely. It's lovely," I say, honestly. It's beautiful, elegant, almost, and I might have considered getting it myself if Christina wasn't. "Why'd you choose that one?"

She shrugs. "I like how something so innocent and pretty is being burned. What you look like doesn't matter here so I'm going to kill it with fire," she growls, teeth gleaming in the dim light. She pulls the pin out of the wall and catches the image as it falls. She stabs the pin back in the wall and we head back to Lynn.

Christina's tattoo is almost done when someone finally speaks.

"What tattoo are you going to get, Tris?" asks Lynn, punching me in the shoulder.

"Am I getting one, too?" I say, only half-joking. I vaguely remember Christina saying something about all three of us getting a tattoo but I didn't think I had to.

"Of course you are," Lynn says.

I try to think of something interesting that happened during initiation, which isn't laborious whatsoever, bearing in mind that I had Tobias as my instructor. Nothing is ever dull when he's around. I remember how he threw knives at me, but that isn't something I want on my skin. I want a moment with Tobias, I'm sure of that, but which one, I still don't know. I was never really into couple tattoos or getting someone's name. Maybe something I said from when I saw his fear simulation. I'm reminiscing over past memories when it hits me.

I know exactly which tattoo I want.

 ** _Thanks for reading another chapter! In case this caused any confusion, when Tobias pouts (in the black book scene), I don't mean in a pose sort of way, but when you stick your lips out in confusion and your upper lip touches your nose. You know what? Never mind. I blame my Britishness. Anyway, do you want me to jump to the future in a couple of chapters to the new initiates arriving or should I continue doing the year leading up to it too? It just might be a boring year, that's all. -Flucy_**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Welcome back! I hope you're enjoying so far! I do have some bad news though. I may not be able to post as often because I am still at school and, contrary to popular belief, I have a life. That's a lie, no, I don't have a life I'm just lazy. Enjoy! – Flucy_**

 ** _DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters._**

 ** _Tris's P.O.V_**

The Pit is already full of initiates, all queuing up to speak with Eric, reporting the job they want. Christina is stood in front of me, hobbling backwards whenever the queue moves.

"Have you finally decided," says Christina, taking a large mouthful out of her muffin, "what job you're going to do when you aren't training?"

I smile. "Yeah," I say, "I figured out what I'm going to do." The queue shuffles ahead and I take a step forward.

"Well don't leave me guessing!" Christina complains.

"I'm going to be a tattoo designer," I say proudly. "I get to sit in the corner of the parlour and draw all day."

"So, are people going to come up to you and just ask for tattoos?" She asks, puzzled.

"Pretty much," I say, nodding. The queue moves along fast, unsurprisingly. Eric was never much of a talker, and soon enough, I am at his desk. He looks up and smiles a grim simper.

"What job do you want," he asks, scribbling something down on a list in front of him.

"I'd like to be a transfer trainer," I say, loudly, raising my chin. "And when I'm not training, I'd like to be a tattoo designer." He doesn't write anything else on the list and places the pen slowly on the table, looking at me confusedly.

"Do you not want to be a leader?" He asks, clearing his throat.

"No."

"Why not?"

I want to keep clear of Marcus, and Jeanine and Max. I want to steer clear of attention but mainly, I just don't want to be near or associated with Eric. I probably shouldn't say that to him, though.

"I am not much of a leading person," I say feebly, and wince at my awkwardness. Eric snorts and shakes his head, incredulous, before noting something down on the small sheet. I begin to walk off when someone grabs me by the arm. I spin round and stare at Eric's clammy fingers clawing at my forearm.

"If you change your mind," he mumbles, eyeing me up, "come see me in my office." He releases my arm and sits back down at his desk before motioning my leave. Marlene and Christina are stood chatting and I stride over to them. Marlene waves and bounds over to me, excitedly.

"What did Eric say about you not wanting a leadership position?" Marlene calls as she jogs across the Pit.

I grin. "Nice to see you, too, Marlene," I remark wittily and she rolls her eyes. "He didn't say much actually. Just told me to see him if I changed my mind."

Marlene furrows her brow and shares a glance with Christina. "That's it?"

"Yeah," I confirm. It does seem odd for someone with a temper not to get slightly irritated by the top initiate choosing a low position job. "I guess he doesn't want to work with me." Christina chuckles.

"I wouldn't want to work with him, or Max, to be honest," she admits. Tobias told me about the cameras and I hope they didn't over hear her in the control room. They might think she's a faction traitor. I hope it's Tobias in the control room and he chooses not to listen in to our conversation.

"I wanted to say that," I say, "but it might not have been a great idea to say it to his face."

"No," she says, "I guess not.

"I forgot to ask," I say, turning to face Marlene, "what job are you going to get?"

"I said chasm maintenance," she says. It seems like a strange choice for someone who ranked so high. She could get a much better job than maintenance. "Shauna told me that there were a bunch of hidden places in the bottom of the chasm that Zeke showed her. Only chasm maintenance people find them."

It sounds quite interesting. "You better make sure I come with you at least once." I can imagine sitting at the bottom of the chasm, watching everyone like ants staring down at us.

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Tobias walks into the room as I pull the bandage off my tattoo. A small Ferris wheel perches daintily on my inner wrist, accompanied with the words 'Hang on tight and good luck to you'. Christina was trying to describe a Dauntless Ferris wheel, if I recall correctly, and I managed to end up doing exactly as she said. Keep a grip on what you want and try to keep it safe, is sort of what it means. Tobias peers over my shoulder to see my tattoo and grins as he sees it.

"Where did you get the quote from?" he asks, unwrapping two muffins from a small plastic wrap.

"Christina, actually," I say. I anticipated surprise but his look is more knowing than anything, as if he expected it. Christina can be wiser than she often lets on. "We saw the wheel on the day of capture the flag and Christina was telling me the Dauntless version of a Ferris wheel wouldn't have cars. You'd just hang on and good luck to you."

"That seems pretty accurate," he says, taking a bite into a muffin. He offers me the muffin in his other hand and I hurriedly take it. I completely forgot about breakfast today and I am ravenous, even though I haven't done much today or burned off any energy. My muffin is finished quickly and I am left with a wrapper now, which I flatten, straightening out the creases and crumples. Tobias stares at me.

"What are you doing to that wrapper?"

I glance down at the paper muffin case in my hand. "I don't really know," I admit. Since I told Eric my job, everything I'd normally do seems to be on pause, I'm distracted. I'm not talking to anyone, and Christina and Uriah both invited me out on two occasions, all offers I declined. I feel like too much has happened today. Maybe I just need time to recharge. I just decided what my job has to be for the rest of my life until I take The Jump. I cringe. The Jump. When I end my life because I don't want to become factionless. Would I prefer to be factionless or dead? What's worse? Too much is on my mind and it is confusing me and making me panic and I can't concentrate anything and my head hurts. My head goes fuzzy all of a sudden and everything becomes distorted; vision, sound, blurred and unrecognisable. I feel myself swaying and my knees are shaking too much. This can't be normal. Something pulls me down onto a bed and pushes my head between my knees. As the blood rushes back to my head, my eyes manage to focus and I can hear Tobias's voice in the background. I put my face in my hands and laugh. I need to pull myself together.

"Tris," Tobias says, sternly. He has a hand on the top of my spine and another around my waist. "Tris."

"Yep, yep," I say, sitting upright, coughing. "Tris is back and she's fine." I smile reassuringly and jump up onto my feet. I stumble back down onto the bed that Tobias pulled me onto back down and laugh. I lie flat on the back and shake my head in disbelief, snickering. I can't even stand up anymore.

"Please don't faint on me too often, Tris," he sniggers light-heartedly, but I can see it in his eyes that he is genuinely concerned. His shoulders are tense and even though he is managing to smile, it's not coming naturally to him.

"Trust me," I say, "it won't become part of my daily regime." I shut my eyes again and just breathe. I don't think about anything and I embrace the silence for several minutes, and to my approval, Tobias doesn't move. My eyes flash open as Zeke bursts through the door.

"Hey h- what's going on?"

I snort and leave Tobias to answer for me.

"Oh don't mind Tris," he says, grinning at me. "She's just collapsing on me." I hit him in the chest and he raises his eyebrows at me.

"Are you alright Tris?" I've never seen Zeke or Uriah worried or even vaguely anxious before, but I can guess this is what it might look like.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I mumble, sitting up again. "Just … I don't know."

"Good," he says cheerily, leaning against the door frame. "Up for a game of Capture the Flag?" My eyes widen in excitement and my grin broadens into a full smile. I could do with something to take my mind off all the commotion. I glance down at the Ferris wheel and share a glance with a grinning Tobias

"I thought Capture the Flag was only part of initiation?" I say, with a hint of questioning.

"Says who?" Zeke checks his watch.

"If anyone said it, it was probably Four," I mumble, then add, "but then again I never really listened to what he was saying in the first place." It's Tobias's turn to hit me now.

Zeke interrupts us. "It's ten now so we'll meet you in two hours by the track. Deal?"

"Who's coming?" Tobias asks as Zeke leaves the apartment and wanders off. He pops his head around the corner again, though, to answer his question.

"You'll see."

 ** _I was in London for the weekend without my laptop OR WiFi so I couldn't write in advance or post or anything and I'm so very sorry. A shorter chapter than usual, I'm aware, but I want to make the next one longer for CTF so I left me some more time to write! Whoop, whoop! -Flucy_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Did you miss me? No? I don't take it personally. Not many people make a habit of speaking to me, though I'm probably not great conversation anyway. I was never much of an interesting or even talkative person._**

 ** _DEFINITION: Tintinnabulate means a shrill, ringing sound. You'll need to know for later._**

 ** _DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters._**

 ** _Tris's P.O.V_**

I recognise most of the people on the train; Christina, Will, Tori, Bud, Uriah, Zeke, Shauna, Marlene, Lynn and Lauren are the faces I can put names to, though there are a lot more of us than there were in the initiation game. I wonder who will be the captains, since we are technically all equals now. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Tobias and Lauren, since they were both initiate instructors, although Lauren didn't take part in last week's event. It was Eric who was the other team captain but I don't think he's on the train. Hopefully Zeke didn't ask him to join us.

"Shut up!" Most of the talking stops when Uriah yells this from a chair.

"Thanks little brother."

Uriah smiles. "No problem."

"Nice to see you could make it," Zeke starts, addressing us all in a nod of acknowledgement. "You've all played Capture the Flag before so you know the rules. Four and I are captains."

Four smirks and joins Zeke at the front of the train. He must've been keeping it a secret from me on purpose. To suppress an evil-looking grin, I bite my lip, but I'm not sure it works; the way he laughs when he sees me gives it away.

"You can choose first, Zeke," Tobias says courteously, gesturing to the array of Dauntless before them. I have a feeling he does this every year, like an over confident strategy, saying you can win even without first choice.

Zeke smiles openly. He expected this to happen and he has a plan. "Tris," he says defiantly and everyone crows in excitement at Zeke's rebellion. I stride over to where Zeke's stood and raise my eyebrows at Tobias.

"That backfired," he mutters, raising a few laughs and murmurs. "Fine then. Uriah." Uriah walks up to Tobias and hits him on the back to express his gratitude. It'll take a while to understand the Dauntless code to camaraderie. I'll figure it out sooner or later.

Once the teams are chosen, I scan our side. I notice Tori and Lynn with steely looks of determination about them, eagerly awaiting further instruction from Zeke, Christina and Will lingering nearer the back. I wave somewhat sarcastically to Tobias as his team hops into the darkness and vanishes as the train moves along. I turn my attention back to Zeke as he clears his throat.

"What's the plan?" He starts, clapping his hands together.

"You're the captain," someone points out, "shouldn't you have the plan?"

"Shut up, Mick," he snaps defensively, "where did you go with Four last time, Tris?"

"To the Ferris wheel, but I doubt he'll go there again. He's not stupid."

"It's worth a shot," Tori suggests, "let's go there first."

I ignore the rest of the plan and hang out of the train, holding tightly onto the handles, careful not to lean too far. I yelp as someone gently pushes me and Lauren laughs. She grabs onto the bar opposite me and also leans out.

"Sorry, Tris," she says, the winding drowning out her voice. "I always do this on trains too." She hangs out a bit further than me and cries out in pain as a protruding bar clips the edge of her nose. It must have hurt a lot but she masks it with a laugh. "Every time," she mutters and I grin.

The train takes around five minutes to fully circulate the rails once, and as the world flashes, I shut my eyes. I'm going to love being Dauntless. Lauren is swinging in and out of the train, giggling like a young girl, when I'm hit by fatigue-no, light-headedness. Again.

"Lauren," I breathe, as my grip loosens and I begin to tilt out of the train. I feel the wind against my chest now, my hips, and then someone yanks me back into the carriage. I'm pushed to the floor and I put my head in my legs, half-sighing and half-panting. I could've died. What is wrong with me? Why does this keep happening?

I rub my eyes and see Zeke and Lauren crouched beside me, staring intently at me. I frown and bite my lip.

"Why do you keep doing that, Tris?" Asks Zeke, rubbing his forehead. Lauren turns to face Zeke.

"She's done this before?"

"Yeah, Four's apartment. About two hours ago."

"I can't help it," I complain. Zeke and Lauren say something I can't quite hear. They look sympathetic when they face me again.

"Maybe you shouldn't come," suggests Lauren, nonchalant. Something snaps inside me.

"No," I say firmly, "I'm coming with you." I grab the railing behind me and pull myself to my feet, wobbling with the sway if the train and the shake of my knees. I straighten my posture to make myself look taller. "I'll be fine."

Zeke and Lauren share a glance and then nod.

"No more passing out please," Zeke commands, and then adds with a grin, "you'll make us lose." I roll my eyes and regain my balance. Why do I keep collapsing? I'm used to the physical exertion and I'm hardly stressed. I'm not warm and I haven't lost blood either, or taken any medication. I shake my head. I haven't a clue why this keeps happening. Christina might know something about it, but I wouldn't be so sure. I think she's been to one medical training session so far.

"We need to jump."

I try a dive roll off the train and I only just manage not to roll into a small pond, making Christina guffaw.

"Come on, Tris!" She offers me a hand up and I accept it. "Jump off the train like a normal person!"

"I just wanted to try something new," I mumble. We set off in a gentle jog, to preserve energy or perhaps it's because everyone's too tired to run any faster. Tori and Zeke lead the pack, taking us in the right direction, although it is fairly hard to miss the Ferris wheel. We weave through an array of dilapidated buildings until we arrive at Navy Pier. We all stop abruptly and raise our paintball guns, crouching low to the ground, covered by the shrubbery and foliage.

One of the members on the other team - Uriah - leans against one of the horses on the carousel, chatting too loudly to Tobias, who is frantically trying to shush him. Zeke slowly raises his gun, the rest of us following obediently. He shoots his brother in the mouth and Uriah starts to cough and gag, scraping the foul-smelling spray off his tongue, like we did on the train only last week. As Tobias hops to his feet, he grabs his gun and we all shrink back down as his team scour the area for the enemy. Tobias walks towards where we are hiding, his paces deliberate and prominent, staring down at where we are hidden. I think he knows exactly where we are. As the rest of my team run away, I sigh and glance up to see Tobias looming over me, grinning. I notice he has his gun lowered.

My voice is barely a whisper. "Boo." The paintball pellet hits his jaw and he jumps back, relatively surprised and I dash past him, laughing to myself. A pellet whizzes past my ear and I shriek as another pellet hits my back, sending an awkward jolt through my body. I raise my gun and spin backwards, rapidly firing at any movement my eyes can latch on to. I glance up at the Ferris wheel. I think I know where I can find the flag, or at least locate it.

An air of familiarity lingers around the first few rungs of the wheel, and when I get over the bout of nostalgia, I brace myself for the long climb ahead. Tonight isn't as nice a night compared to last week's Capture the Flag evening. The air is still and mild, sky gloomy and empty, moon disguised by cloaks of cloud and mist. The rungs are cold and I shiver at every touch of the icy metal, peeling my bare hands off the wet bars. I can't hear anyone following me, though it could be masked by my own breaths and the joyous yelps from below. Lynn hid our flag in a building on the way to Navy Pier, and only she knows which building that is, and which floor that is, so I don't thing Tobias's team will find it any time soon.

I soon reach the platform that shows me I'm a third of the way up and the wind is certainly stronger than I initially anticipated. I cling onto a metal strut and look over the edge. I can only see the platform in front of my feet. I need to get closer. I crouch down and let go of the bar. I press myself to the platform and tangle my feet in the bars behind me, chin resting on the side of the platform. I still can't see it and I look up. I need to go higher. I could either take a Ferris wheel ride up, or I could climb again.

I have to clutch tighter on the rungs than I remember. The Ferris wheel creaks in the wind and I shiver at a disconcerting thought. _You are going to fall. You are going to fall,_ repeats itself over and over in my mind. I yell "Shut up!" and continue to climb, my heart in my mouth. I clamber into one of the Ferris wheel cars and watch the scene below me. Lynn and Tori are bombarding several of the more unenthusiastic players with paint and cheering. Christina and Will are at the top of the Hancock building and looking over the edge. I make out another person jumping around excitedly. Uriah, I think, hopping precariously near the side. I lift my gaze and wash my eyes over the surrounding scene. There is no tiny pulsing light from the flag, or at least not one I can see. A dense layer of fog blocks most of my sight and I can't see the ground as easily anymore, now morning comes. We've been out here for almost an hour and neither of our teams has made any progress.

"Boo." I expect to see Tobias when I spin around, gun raised but I'm greeted by someone I didn't know was here tonight. Eric twiddles with a ring in his eyebrow, sat with his legs crossed, in an odd cheeriness that leaves me standing in silence.

"Don't be so scared." He stands up and walks over to me, placing one foot directly in front of the other. "I'm only here to threaten you. Maybe hurt you a little." He shrugs casually. His nonchalance is off-putting and I have no remark to snap at him. His lips curl into a cruel grin. Why is he here?

"What do you want, Eric?" I spit, brows furrowed, back straight.

"I want you to be a leader."

"I already said no," I point out, "besides, you told me to come see you if I changed my mind and I haven't so you can go." His smile drops and he charges at me. He pins me to the wall with two hands, restraining my shoulders, pushing them back into the side of the Ferris wheel car. I can feel his breath on my cheek and I force myself to look away.

"I don't know if you're trying to," he searches for the word, "antagonise me, but I'd stop. You _will_ be a leader." I thrust my knee into his stomach and he winces, backing away.

"No." I clear my throat. "No. You can't make me."

I realise too late that this might have been the wrong thing to say to him. He lunges for me and a dart of pain ripples through my face. Tentatively, I put my hand to my cheek and raise the other arm defensively, protecting my face.

"Going to become a leader yet?"

"Why?" I gulp, "why do you insist on having me for leadership. Choose Peter."

"You have something he doesn't have. Initiative. You're fast and you're brave and maybe even smart. You aren't showcasing that trait too well at the moment though, Tris."

"What makes you think threatening will help?"

"Not just threatening," Eric says, "maybe a tad of beating, torture, et cetera." His hand gestures are natural and calm but his tone of voice is rough and unnerving.

"No you won't. The compound is under surveillance 24 hours a day," I remind him, "you wouldn't touch me with the cameras around."

"Are there any here?" He smirks. A fist connects with my ribs and knocks the air out of my chest. I crumple and fall to the floor. Eric is much stronger than me. I can't possibly beat him, especially in such close quarters. Suspended in a box in the air. Tobias would hate this. I shake the thought from my mind. That is the least of my worries.

I push myself to my feet and ready my fists. Another jab smashes into my face, and then in quick succession, an uppercut hits my jaw. My teeth slam into my upper lip and I bite through it, yelping in pain, mouth swelling with blood, making me feel uneasy. The car jerks violently and I fall backwards. _On your feet_ I think. Just like with Peter's fight. This time, there is no one to stop the fight before Eric kills me though. He wouldn't kill me if he wanted me for leadership. I hope. Eric grabs a fistful of my hair in one hand and repeatedly punches me wherever he can with the other. The pain is a crackle and I greet the spots again, shadowing my vision, bordering my sight with black shadows. I screech and clutch at my face, hands shaking uncontrollably. I'm familiar with pain, after Peter introduced me, but this is something more. Bigger, stronger, more experienced. This is worse. Much, much worse. Every punch doesn't just make my ears tintinnabulate like when I fought Peter, they boom, ear-splitting shrieks reverberating in my ears. I can't tell if they are my own screams or just a sound my mind has thrust upon me.

As my back slams against the wall, with my head following with a crack, Eric topples over onto the bench and I scrabble to my feet, charging at him to take my opportunity. Summoning the remains of my strength, I shove a foot into his chest. Or I would've if he hadn't grabbed my calf and tipped me upside down. He digs his nails into my leg and grabs the other calf. He drags my face along the floor until he reaches the door of the car. I struggle and claw at his hands, but his grip does not falter. He grunts and slams into the door. It swings open and he dangles me over the edge of the car, my head swaying in the breeze. I scream and feel the panic sinking in. Breaths come in rapid pants and as my screams echo around the pier, the ground below me silences. Christina, Will and Uriah stop shouting and look for the sound. Tori and Lynn stop firing and the paintball puffs stop for my screams. My head whips around, eyes pleading and begging for mercy – I don't need to see them to know that much - and all Eric does is grins.

"Tris!" A husky voice calls from the ladder. Eric growls and yanks me back up into the car. He grabs me by the scuff of the neck.

"You tell anyone it was me," he snaps, "and next time, I _will_ kill you." He throws me to the ground and a shriek of pain bursts from my lips as my head slams into the floor. A foot drives into my side, then my face and I scream again. My coughs are raw and blood spatters from my mouth. Vision tinted red, I watch as a sideways Eric jumps from the car and groan as the car swings with his movement.

"Tris." Tobias's eyes find mine on the floor and he mutters something inaudible. I drag a heavy hand across my face and a crimson blood smears across my hand. He kneels by my side and wipes some of the blood away from my cheek, his slender fingers gentle, caressing my hair, tucking wisps of hair behind my ear.

"Eyes open," he orders softly, jumping up and running to the door of the car. He waves to someone frantically. "Over here, Zeke!"

Someone else hops into the car and I moan as it jolts.

"Tris, eyes on me."

I lightly shake my head and my eyelids droop. "I can't, I can't." My voice fades away to a whisper. I'm exhausted. Please let me rest. Let the pain go for a few hours. Wake me when the blood is gone, when the pain has subsided. When it's all stopped. When I can't feel the throbbing in my cheek, or see the blood dribbling down the bridge of my nose, when the metallic taste is gone from my tongue. Just let me rest.

"Tris, you have to." His voice is quiet and he squeezes my hand. Every sluggish breath is an effort, a wheeze in my chest that strains my lungs, pushing them against my ribs in a painful -

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It's a lot lighter than I remembered it being last time I was conscious. My head is throbbing, like someone is pushing on the walls of my skull. I try to sit up but several hands push me down. _I must be in a hospital,_ I think, but when my eyes focus, I'm still on the Ferris wheel. I snort, and then laugh when Christina raises her eyebrows at me.

"Tris, you've literally just woken up and you're finding this funny now?

"It's happened before," I say, "been there done that." Christina rolls her eyes and presses her hand to her face in disbelief. Everyone else in the room is now staring at me; Tobias, Will, Uriah, Zeke, all with eyes trained on me. I give them a sarcastic wave.

"What time is it?" I ask. Uriah smiles and shakes his head, a smile playing at his lips.

"About 7ish," says Zeke, glancing at his watch. "You were out around 6 hours."

"Who won?"

Zeke grins. "We did. Four's team had the flag on the underside of the pier so when Marlene fell off it, she grabbed it."

My smile broadens and I wince. My jaw flushes pain across my face.

"Do you mind if I speak to Tris alone?" Everyone nods and soon enough the only people left in the room are Tobias and I. He sits down on the floor next to me and prop myself up with an elbow. He seems flustered.

"I don't think you like it in here at all." I say.

"You think?" He says, "Small spaces _and_ heights? Are you trying to kill me, Tris?"

I scoff. "Why would I do that?"

He shrugs. The next few minutes of silence are awkward. "Who did this to you, Tris?"

"It was-ˮ I remember Eric's words: You tell anyone it was me, and I will kill you. I can't tell him. "I-He had a mask on."

Tobias sighs. "I thought you were telling me the truth now?"

"I am," I protest, "I don't even know it was a man anyway."

"If you say so," he says quietly. He doesn't believe me, and clears his throat instead. "Are you alright, Tris?"

"I'm fine." He looks sceptical. "Really, I am, just a bit of a headache. Have you honestly been here for 6 hours?"

"Don't look so surprised," he jokes, nudging my shoulder, "of course I have. Are you able to stand up? I could do with leaving." He looks guiltily at the floor. Grabbing a handrail on the wall, I hoist myself up, stifling groans. I'm shaky so I press my hands into my thighs to keep them still.

"How do we get down from here?" Tobias just smiles, then waves over the edge of the carriage. After a moment, the Ferris wheel jolt awake and starts to turn. I laugh and peer over the edge of the car, watching the ground expand beneath me. Lynn and Marlene are fiddling with some controls, sniggering at something they are doing. Tobias and I hop off the carriage and I stumble a bit on my landing.

"Hey Tris, you alright?" Lynn asks, flicking a switch on the control panel.

"Yup," I say, "I'm good."

Marlene and Lynn nod then dash off to catch up with Christina, Will, Uriah and Zeke. One figure is coming towards us though, as we slowly pace forwards and I stiffen as I recognise him. Tobias looks at me funny, eyebrows creasing. I look up at the person in front of me and bite my lip. Eric.

 ** _It is taking a lot longer to write now, but everything feels so forced and manufactured. I just want to keep some drama in it so you have Tris passing out, Eric, and eventually, more. There'll be several more chapters set at this point in the fanfic, and then when the drama goes (or maybe if I catch up to next year) I will have imitates come. Thanks -Flucy_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Welcome back! Thank you for all the reviews I got! My page just blew up. That's a lie, no it didn't. Metaphors, pfft! I hope you enjoy the next chapter! Another couple of reviews would be flipping amazing! -Flucy**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters.**_

 _ **Tobias' P.O.V**_

Tris stiffens at the sight of Eric. Her whole body goes rigid and she stops walking, letting her arm slide from my waist.

"Why have we stopped?"

She simpers and slowly starts to walk again. "We haven't."

Eric is upon us now and Tris halts immediately.

"I heard I might find you here," says Eric, "you look fine to me. Needed to come check anyway."

"It's your job," Tris snaps, "you get paid to come check on me anyway. I'm fine. Why are you here?"

He glares at her but doesn't retaliate, instead, he gives her a grim smile, one that could make a chill run down your spine.

"When an initiate is attacked straight after the rankings are released," he states, "one might think that the attack was due to their rank."

"I couldn't tell who it was," she spits. Her words are like venom. "I couldn't tell if it was an initiate, or a Dauntless member. They felt stronger than any initiate." Eric's smile drops and I glance down at his hands; callused, blooded, bruised. Something clicks together in my mind. He did this to her.

"Something wrong, Four?" Eric waits expectantly and I falter.

"Thinking is not just for the Erudite, Eric," I smirk, "you would know."

He recoils and stalks off without another word. The grin vanishes from my face and I whip my head around to face Tris.

"He did this to you." She doesn't deny it. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She shakes her head and I lift her chin with two fingers so she looks at me. She winces and I regret doing it.

"Tris," I say sternly, "we've been through this. You can tell me anything." Her eyes reach mine and I force a smile, but it comes out lopsided and awkward. She looks away.

"He said he'd kill me if anyone found out," she mutters, "he's probably going to kill you too now. Cheers for that."

It's times like these when I wish thinking _was_ actually exclusive to Erudite. I've condemned Tris to her death.

"What did he want?"

"For me to be a leader," she mumbles and the shock shows, clear on my face. "Seriously. That is all he wanted. He threatened me to be a leader, which is ridiculous. If he just asked…"

I snort and she glares at me. "Would you honestly consider working with Eric if he just asked?"

She chuckles lightly, but she's obviously still rather shaken. She masks it well. "No. But at least I wouldn't have to work with two people who want me dead." Peter and Eric. Eric and Peter. Such a pair.

"I'm not going to let that happen." She raises her eyebrows. "Tris, believe me. We'll be fine." Someone yells at us from in front and we both flip our heads in alarm. It's just Uriah, and he's fine. He motions for us to catch up and shouts, "Come on, slowpokes!"

"Race you."

"It's on, little girly."

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"How do you run so fast?" Tris moans, panting as she joins us by the train tracks.

"Magic," Uriah shouts, laughing. Tris groans and places her hands on her knees, bending over to catch her breath.

"No, but really."

"I'm taller than you, stronger, had more practice."

"And _you_ 're crippled!" Zeke points out.

"Shut up, Zeke," shouts Tris, "I'm not a cripple."

"You looked like you could use another excuse, so I thought I might offer you one."  
"I don't need an excuse."  
Christina sighs. "Would you two please stop bickering? The train is here."

"Can you get on Tris," I say, offering her a hand. She roars in frustration and Uriah guffaws.

"I'm not a cripple!"

Tris stumbles onto the train first, and I follow quickly, pressing a hand to her tailbone to help her along. I feel the shiver.

Too much has happened today and it's still the morning. Tris almost died, I found out who almost killed her and have now sent my girlfriend – if I can even call her that – to her grave. I lean back against the train carriage and shrink down to my knees, eyes shut, legs tucked into my chest. I feel a hand on my shoulder and someone sinks down next to me. I don't need to open my eyes to know it's Tris. She places an arm around me and tucks her face in my shoulder. Ignoring all conversation, we stay like this for most of the journey, rocking into each other with every curve of the train tracks. Tris eventually breaks the silence when Christina starts to argue with Uriah and no one can hear us.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" She sounds weary and I shake my head.

"Not if you don't want me to."

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Tris's apartment is on the other side of the Dauntless compound, near the initiation net, whereas mine is by the control room. With a soft _click!_ The door slips open and reveals a bare room, walls painted black, standard furniture packed in a single large brown box. She steps inside and I follow, closing the door behind her. She plants her bag on the floor.

"It's so empty."

Her fingers graze the wall lightly and dust groups on her fingertips, which she blows off with a puff.

"I can unpack the furniture. It'll look a bit nicer then."  
I drop another bag on the floor and walk to the large cardboard box.

"So how come you didn't want to share a room with Christina?" I ask, rifling through the box, lifting smaller boxes out of it.

"Maybe if she has no idea where I live, she can't force me to come shopping with her."

I can't imagine Zeke ever doing something like that; him knocking on my door and asking me to drink with him. He has, however, broken down the door after having a drink.

I start to unpack the flat pack bed from one of the smaller beds, decorating the wooden floorboards with metal struts, placing them into organised piles on the floor.

"You don't have to do this for me."

"I've done it before," I say, "it won't take long for me to do. Go out with Christina. I'll be fine." Tris presses her lips to the crown of my head and she bounds off, slamming the door shut, but not locking it as she goes.

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 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

I rarely walked down this corridor as an initiate, and it still feels strange to be here without the rest of the group. It's unusually quiet around here, especially for the Dauntless compound, and I quicken my pace. The quietude is making me feel uneasy. It has never been this silent here before.

I realise I have no idea where I am when I break out of my reverie. I also remember that I completely forgot to ask Christina where her apartment is, so I decide to wander aimlessly around the compound and simply head for screaming girls and Uriah. That'll probably be where I find Christina, Will, Marlene, Uriah and possibly Lynn and it seems like a good strategy.

Hearing other people's footsteps behind me doesn't worry me anymore, so I ignore the loudening steps, and shrug it off as echoes from down the hallway.

Right up until I can feel someone else's body heat, and their breaths blowing my hair, and the knife pressed against my throat. I freeze and Eric chuckles behind me. I recognise his laugh and he is the only person motivated to hurt me, aside from Peter. I highly doubt it is Peter though. Peter isn't stupid enough to try that trick again, considering how it ended last time he tried.

"Breathe, and your oesophagus will forcibly press against this sharpened blade. Screaming might not be smart either."

"Fancy words from a fancy Erudite. Do you think talking is a good idea either?" I smirk. The tip of the blade pierces part of my neck and I feel the trickle of blood running down my neck. "I take that as a no." I instantly regret saying that and think of what Robert said to me when I passed him in Amity; don't try and antagonise him. He gave the same advice to me, once, but in different circumstances.

Eric chuckles. "Are you coming for leadership, yet?" His voice is gruff, scratchy.

"I didn't warm up to the idea of working with the man who tried to kill me." I spit and the knife is dragged up to my chin. Every wrong thing say, do, results in a scar across my face, and I can see where this is going. I have to beat him at his own game. Somehow. I realise more blood is dripping out of a gash on my chin.

"How about now?"

"How about no?" The blade traces my jaw, and it feels like getting a tattoo on your ribs; painful. I wince but hide it with a cough, now that I can freely speak without the pressure of a knife against my throat. Four! I could shout for him. By the time my train of thought catches us with my speech, I've already started talking. "What makes me a better leader to Peter? Why are you so sure you want me? I could be awful."

"Because you are different than him."

"Define different." I expect another slash from the knife, but instead, he pulls the knife away and spins me around with the handle. I face Eric and he places the tip of the blade on the tip of my nose. He draws a line up to my forehead and carefully circles my eyes, blood tinting my vision.

"In my back pocket, Tris," he says, still cutting at my face. I stifle sobs. "I have a serum. Such serum that puts you through your fear landscape, and everyone else's. You will be seeing your friends' fears. It is also mixed with a modified paralysis serum, that allows you to struggle and keep moving, but not break free from the simulation for three hours." He walks over to me and puts his hand around my bloodied face, smudging the oozing red with his thumb.

"Want to try it?" Before I can answer, a needle is stabbed through one of the gashes in my neck.

 **PAGEBREAKxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxpagebreak**

* * *

 _ **Tobias's P.O.V**_

Tris has been gone for over an hour now. I'm not worried about her though. She can take care of herself. She doesn't need me to look after her. Set up her furniture, maybe, but elsewise, she has no need for me.

Her room now looks slightly more homely and I plant myself on her bare mattress. With everything finally unpacked, I sigh, relaxing on the comfort of a new bed, when Uriah bursts through the door. It's a good thing Tris didn't lock the door when she left, otherwise she'd have a hole in her door. Uriah is panting breathlessly, sheer terror is plain on his face and he makes no attempt to hide it.

"Woah, Uri, calm down!" I joke, getting to my feet to close the door behind him. Uriah wedges the door open with his foot but doesn't say anything, he just stares at me, incredulous. This might not be a good time to be laughing and my smile fades.

"Tris," he says in between sluggish breaths. "It's Tris. Down the hall, with Christina. Quickly." I'm already out the door by the time he finishes what he's saying and I can hear his footsteps close behind me. I sprint down the hall and see two figures; one sat down, one lying on their lap.

"Christina! What happened?" I yell as I come upon them. Tris's hair is matted with blood and her face is lined with scars, clogged with dried crimson ooze.

"She was like this when we found her. Uriah went to get you, I stayed here, Lynn went to get Zeke."

"Zeke?"

"whoever did this to her is probably waiting at the hospital for her. She can't go there. You'll need help carrying her."

"Is she…" My voice trails off.

"No." Her voice is loud, but wavers slightly. She's unsure. She hasn't been trained as a doctor long enough to be able to establish her health, although I can tell by just looking that it's critical. Tris yelps and squirms in Christina's arms, sweat dribbling down her forehead, down her cheek.

Zeke is running full pelt at us, Lynn following closely, and comes to an abrupt stop upon seeing Tris.

"Help me with her, Zeke," I order, chiselling my arms under her limp body, lifting Tris from Christina's knees. Zeke stands there, staring. Like his brother, speechless. "Now!" Zeke couches down and cradles her head in one arm as I pick her up. Tris screams and a shiver runs down my spine. I can only imagine what she's going through.

I run back to my apartment – it's closer – with Tris in my arms, Lynn, Uriah, Zeke and Christina chasing after me. As we approach my apartment, I slow down and Zeke charges ahead, fumbling in his pocket for the spare key I gave him. The door swings open and I gently place the shivering girl in my arms on the bed and step back.

"Now what?"

"I don't know."

 **pagebreakxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxPAGEBREAK**

* * *

A loud gasp startles me and I spin around to find Tris sitting bolt upright scraping something off her arms. Talons. Crows' talons. I stand and watch for a moment and then sit down next to her. She yells and shuffles away from me, stray tears dribbling down her cheek.

"Tris," I start, "It's me."

"I know, Tobias," she whimpers, "I know." I'm silently pleased that I'm now alone with, that everyone else left hours ago, because she just said my name aloud. Hurt or not, Tris can never say may name aloud in front of other people.

I place an arm around her shoulder and she leans into my arm, burying her head in my chest. We stay like this for several minutes. Who would do this? _Eric._ Why would he do this? _He's Eric._ What did he do? Nothing reduces Tris to tears. Nothing.

"Tris?"

"Mm?"

"What happened?" I instantly regret asking and she lets out another sob. "Sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"No." She composes herself. "No it's fine. I can talk."

I remain silent.

"It was awful," she whispers, so quietly I can hardly hear. "It was my fear landscape."

"Shouldn't you have been in and out in minutes?"

She shakes her head. "It was my fear landscape and everyone else's. Everyone I've ever cared about. Everyone I've ever felt any passion for. I know what they're afraid of. Mixed with modified paralysis serum."

My heart sinks. I know what that must be like. I have to watch 16 year olds' fears as a job and it is as horrible as it sounds. I've never had to live their fears though, trapped inside them.

"Three hours," she mumbles, "it felt like an eternity." She wipes a tear from her cheek and brushes her fingers against her face and feels the scarred ridges lining her bones. Her brows furrow and she runs her hand around her head and neck. "What happened to my face?" She jumps up and runs to the mirror hanging on the wall. "Oh."

"Don't worry," I reassure her, getting to my feet. "They'll fade."

"What I just saw won't," she retorts, shaking her head. I walk over to where she is stood and place my hands around her waist, my chin resting on her head.

"Please take your chin off my head."

I straighten up. "Sorry."

"I have to be a leader now," she sighs, "don't I?"

"Why don't we talk to Max about it?" I suggest, "Maybe I could replace your position as leader."

"Let's go."

"Now?"

"Now."

 **PAGEBREAKxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxpagebreak**

* * *

"To what pleasure do I owe this visit?" Max is oddly cheery, for a change.

"You don't," Tris says flatly. Max is taken aback and steps aside letting us into his office.

"Then why are you- what happened to your face?"

"Eric."

"Eric?"

"Yes. He is persistent I come for leadership and he beats me up every time I decline. It's getting stupid now."

Max purses his lips. "Do you have proof?"

"Isn't my face enough?"

"No, proof that it was actually Eric?"

"I picked up some footage from the control room." I say. Tris is shocked.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Max nods. "If the evidence is enough, the punishment is death or life imprisonment," says Max factually, "but because he's a leader, he chooses the criminal's punishment so it's his choice between life and death."

Max gestures to his computer and I pull out the memory stick containing the camera footage. I look to Tris.

"Are you sure?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

I shrug and place the memory stick into Max's computer. It loads, and then we press play. Tris averts her eyes as Max and I watch in disbelief as Eric traces her features with the knife. When Tris has collapsed on the floor under the pressure of the serum, someone else appears and just watches Tris with Eric, grinning. Peter.

 _ **Thanks, again, for reading. I hope I didn't take too long. I will be very busy this weekend what with my social life and trialling for my city netball team. I will inevitably fail to get onto the team but nevertheless I am going. I'll see you soon! That's a lie, no I won't. -Flucy**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Hey! I've been really busy, y'know, getting onto the netball team I trialled for, having floods stopping me from getting to school so it's not at all like I've just been procrastinating and postponing for days until you all left… But I'm back! And everything is going to be okay. Maybe.**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters.**_

 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

You can't arrest people for laughing. Dauntless compound would just be a prison. Peter stays, Eric chooses. I can only assume that Eric will choose to go to jail. Peter will be willing to break him out in several years' time, but I think I might have Peter out of my face for the time being. If Eric ever gets broken out of prison, Peter might not be the first suspect if he stays out of my way. I'll be safe for a couple of years, at least. It is too soon for Eric to break out. Too soon.

I press my the crown of my head to the wall and sink down to my knees, before I collapse and fall down. I bury my face in grubby hair, unwashed in the days of stress. My hair even manages to _smell_ grimy. I'm relieved I don't realise I have to deal with my thoughts on Peter in Max's office, and that I do in the comfort of Tobias's apartment. The door clicks open and Tobias comes in, followed by Zeke, who is shouting something to someone behind him. From where I'm sat, they can't see me, as the door opened onto me. I shuffle back a little further. I wonder how long it will take for them to notice me.

"So, Zeke, what did you want?"

Zeke shakes his head and jumps onto the bed. "It's about Shauna."

"What about her? You guys are great together."

I snicker a bit; I never thought I'd hear Tobias offer relationship advice. I zip my mouth shut as soon as Tobias's eyes flit in my direction and I slip deeper into the shadows.

"Yeah, we are, I guess," he sighs, "I'm just not giving her much and I don't want her to leave me for someone else."

"Well if you were a good boyfriend, you wouldn't be so worried."

"Shut up, Four."

"I'm just saying," he shrugs, I peer around the corner of the door and a grin creeps onto my face. I think I'll enjoy being Dauntless, and slowly, I find myself forgetting about Peter.

Tobias flips his head to where I'm sat and I snap back into my hiding spot and hopefully, he thinks nothing else of it. He doesn't seem to care, but people like Tobias can surprise you. Perhaps he thought it was someone from down the corridor.

"I guess you're right, Four.."

"I always am.

"Shut up." Zeke punches Tobias in the shoulder and he retaliates, smacking him around the cheek. They fall about laughing but quickly regain composure. "Don't tell any of the girls. I don't really want them to know."

Tobias's eyes slowly drift to mine. He knew I was here all along. I bite my lip and try to stifle laughter. Tobias nods in my direction.

"Might be a bit late for that, Zeke."

Zeke looks over to where I am sat and he gapes and shoves his face in his hands in embarressment, and I jump up to join the two boys.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" Zeke asks, seriously, and I have to snigger. His expression lightens and Tobias chuckles.

"Of course she won't," he answers for me, "and I'd like to show you to the door, before she changes her mind…" he adds, mischievously. Zeke bounds out of the door and slams it shut behind him. I hear another click; he locked the door.

"Why would he lock it?" I laugh, gesturing to the door.

"He's a Pedrad – it's in his nature to be absolutely ridiculous," Tobias snorts, wrapping his arms around my chest. I immediately relax in the comfort of his warmth and breathe a sigh of relief. Tobias's very presence soothes me, and the silence lets me think about everything. I wish Zeke came bouncing back in to break the silence.

"Tris?"

I ignore him.

"Tris?"

"What?"

"Why do you keep fainting?" Tobias asks, running his fingertips through my hair.

"I have no idea."

He does have a good question. Why do I keep fainting? If it gets any worse it could lead to my death. If Lauren hadn't grabbed me, I'd probably have fallen to my death. It's probably nothing serious.

"Might just be anaemia," Tobias suggests, shrugging. He inhales deeply and picks up the scent of my hair. "Tris, you really need to wash your hair."

I turn around and shove Tobias in the chest, and he topples over onto the bed.

"I'm off to shower then." I stride out of the door and he follows me.

"You realise I have a shower here?"

I raise my eyebrows at him and run towards the dorm.

 **PAGEBREAKxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxpagebreak**

* * *

Feeling refreshed, Christina and I head down to the dining hall. Most of the Dauntless have already finished eating by now, since it is getting rather late for food. There is no doubt about it that Uriah finished eating over two hours ago. Nevertheless, we are hungry, and nothing is going to stop us. Except Zeke running towards us with a huge grin on his face.

"Wrong way, ladies," he shouts, grabbing our wrists and spinning us around. "Dauntless or Candor. My place. Now."

Christina and I share a glance and shrug, before allowing ourselves to be dragged off.

"Who's going to be there?"

"Not many," Zeke confirms. "You do know the rules of the game right?"

I shake my head. "No, I don't know the rules."

"It's easy to play," Zeke says, turning down another corridor. "You choose between Dauntless and Candor, truth or dare, and if you choose not to do it, you have to kiss the person you least like, or take off a piece of clothing, excluding hats, socks, shoes and scarves."

"Do people wear scarves in the Dauntless compound?" Exclaims Christina, incredulous. Zeke rolls his eyes.

"Were you even listening?"

"It's debatable."

Zeke slides the key into the lock and I'm surprised to see that not many people have arrived yet. Only Tobias, Will, Marlene, Shauna, Lynn and Uriah are sat waiting for us, each with a drink in hand, probably alcohol.

Tobias jumps up upon seeing me and embraces me in a tight hug.

"It's barely been two hours, Four," I laugh, "You can't possibly miss me already."

Tobias's grip loosens around my shoulders and his hands slither down to my waist. Someone wolf whistles behind us and we turn to see Uriah with raised eyebrows.

"Are we playing," he asks, "or what?"

"I'm in."

"Me too."

"Let's begin."

 _ **Don't think I'm not aware how short this chapter is, because trust me, I know. It was either a short one, or none at all. I'm probably going to cut to initiation after the next couple of chapters, but I said that last time so don't hold your breath. My social life (figuratively) exploded so I have been super busy what with actually speaking to people. DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! -Flucy**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**I'm back. I know, it has been some time but I am so utterly bored that I thought I should do some writing. I am busy (I'm always busy) and I've just got life to get on with. Surprisingly, I have a life. Even I wasn't aware of that.**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters.**_

 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

Zeke strides inside and slips in between Shauna and Marlene, planting a kiss on Shauna's cheek as cheek as he plonks down onto the wooden floorboards.

"Have a seat."

I share a glance with Tobias. He looks sceptical and he must have done this before. Whatever this is. Christina pats the floor next to her and reluctantly, I sit down, Tobias sliding down next to me.

"Who here has never played Dauntless or Candor?" Zeke asks, scanning the audience. His eyes lock on with mine.

"I doubt the new initiates have played," he says, grinning mischievously. "It's simple. Once you get the hang of it. I'll ask you Dauntless or Candor, and if you say Dauntless, you get a dare, and Candor is truth."

"That sounds easy enough," pipes Christina. Zeke's grin broadens.

"But."

"Of course there's a 'but'," sighs Christina, shaking her head.

"But," Zeke continues, "if you don't do whatever is asked or answer the question, you take an item of clothing off or kiss the person you least like."

Christina gapes and her eyes widen in alarm. She gestures to the skimpy clothes she's wearing.

"I'm practically not wearing anything anyway!" She complains, muttering curses under her breath. I shoulder Christina.

"Looks like you're going to be under my control for the night," I say, a smile playing at my lips. Christina moans and presses her face into her palms. Tonight is going to be interesting.

"I'll start," says Zeke, turning to Uriah. "Uri, Dauntless or-ˮ

"Dauntless!" Sings Uriah, rolling his eyes greedily.

"Nice and easy to start, little brother. I dare you to run around the Pit screaming 'I've lost my voice! Please help me find it!'" Zeke chuckles. The dare isn't especially awkward but certainly funny. Uriah shrugs and jumps up, Will and Lynn following him, to make sure he does the dare. Whilst they come back giggling, Uriah rubs a red hand-shaped mark across his cheek, mumbling something inaudible. Uriah sits back down next to Zeke.

"Four. Dauntless or Candor?"

"Candor."

"Pansycake," yells Uriah, pointing in Tobias's direction. "Tell us one of your fears."

Uriah's barely finished the sentence when Tobias pull his shirt over his head, and I can't help but stare, at his build, despite it being hidden under a black undershirt. His tattoo. They can't see it. I look down at myself; I'm not wearing all that much. I could be sat in just a bra and knickers by the end of this.

"Christina, Dauntless or Candor?"

She considers this for a moment, wary of Tobias's naughty grin. "Dauntless?"

"Bad choice, Christina," says Marlene, Shauna agreeing. Christina grunts and turns to face Tobias, eyes full of dread. I think Tobias might just go easy on her.

"Shut your eyes." Christina obeys. "Someone is going to come over to you, barefoot. You must lick their foot and guess who it is."

Tobias motions over to Lynn, who slips her shoe off quickly and quietly, before shuffling over to Christina. She raises a foot and presses it into Christina's mouth, stifling laughter. Christina grabs the foot and begins to tentatively lick the foot, face crumpling in disgust.

"Is it Tris?" Asks Christina, opening her eyes. "Oh, sorry, Lynn. I don't make a habit of licking people's feet."

"Why did you think it was me?" I say, genuinely curious. Christina shrugs.

"You seem like the sort of person that would do that. Just shove your foot in my face without any protest. Very Tris-esque." Christina turns to face Marlene. "So, Mar. Dauntless or Candor?"

Clamping a hand over Uriah's mouth she replies "Candor!" then tells Uriah to not say a word if he doesn't want another broken nose. Surprisingly, Uriah doesn't have a witty comeback.

"What was your first impression of me?"

Marlene bites her lip. "Do you really want to know?" Christina nods. "I hated you. I thought you were a snobby jerk that should jump into the chasm. Needless to say, I warmed up to you."

Christina doesn't seem to be bothered.

Marlene looks concerned. "So you don't hate me now?"

"Not really, no," replies Christina, nonchalant. "If I met me, I wouldn't like me either."

I snort and Christina glares at me.

"I wouldn't think to highly of yourself, Stiff," she warns, raising her eyebrows.

Marlene clears her throat. "Okay who's left?"

"Will and Tris. Tris. Dauntless or Candor?"

"Tell us the fear that the Dauntless leaders were laughing at. Christina wouldn't tell us."

The idea seems rather ironic to me; I can tell them that I still have Stiff frigidity in me or take off my shirt, leaving me in plain black bra, and I can't tell what's worse. I don't know how long this game will last - I can't waste my clothes, my precious lifeline.

"I'm frigid," I whisper. I think only Tobias could hear that, and he already knows.

"What was that, Tris?" Taunts Will, innocently. I shoot him a look.

"I'm frigid. It was a fear of intimacy, I guess," I say, much louder. No one knows what to say and Uriah furrows his brow.

"What was that like? Just a bunch of people with no clothes on? I'd quite enjoy that," admits Uriah, receiving a punch in the arm from his brother. I have to laugh, because the idea is so ridiculous. I might as well tell them what my fear was like, since I have nothing to lose now. I mouth to Tobias, 'Do you mind?' and he shakes his head.

"It was Four coming on to me."

"You told us it was faceless! You lied!" Will exclaims, eyes wide in surprise. I roll my eyes.

"Congratulations. Do you want a medal?" I snort, heat rushing into my cheeks. "Swiftly moving on. Will. Dauntless or Candor?"

"Dauntless, I guess."

This is my time to ruin him. Not maliciously, but in a friendly way. Something he'll never live down. I think for a moment, then realise I can't do that to Will. He's one of my only friends. Perhaps another time.

"I'll go easy on you. Explain to the person you least like in this room why you hate them for the next three minutes."

Will groans, then turns to face Tobias. _Tobias._ This will be good.

"Four, I'm sorry, but I dislike you more than anyone else in this room," Will begins, much to Tobias's amusement. Everyone else, however, sit in alarm and awe. It certainly takes some guts to challenge fearless Four.

"I just don't like you. You were always a strict, ruthless and rude instructor. I don't know if I was just terrified of you, I probably was and still kind of am terrified of you but you just really irritated me. I thought you were a big-headed Dauntless teacher, with nothing better to do than scare the living daylights out of teenagers with no clue about anything," Will says, animated. The room is silent apart from Tobias and I sniggering away. It must only be funny for us because we know that it is true. Very true, but there is a different side to the Dauntless bully Will has portrayed as my boyfriend. I still don't know if I can call him that but no one can stop me.

Tobias shakes his head, disbelieving. "Am I really that bad?"

"You never were particularly kind," I muse, nodding my head in agreement with Will.

"Am I still like that now, Will?" Asks Tobias, an air of seriousness lingering on his words.

"Maybe? I don't really know. You're not as heartless as I thought you were. I didn't realise you had the emotional capacity to feel love for anyone. Not Tris, anyway."

Zeke guffaws. "I didn't know either! Four on dates, man. A certain spectacle. But that's for another dare. Moving on."

Will clears his throat. "Okay, then, Lynn. Dauntless or Candor?"

"Dauntless. A good one."

"Oh no. This is testing me," says Will, rubbing his forehead. "Let's go to Erudite. Play with them for a bit."

We leave with mischievous smiles and a full moon over our heads.

 **PAGEBREAKxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxpagebreak**

* * *

"Tris, no going near the edge of the train," Zeke warns me, nudging my shoulder lightly as the train comes towards us.

"Wait, what happened?" Asks Tobias, brows furrowed.

"You didn't tell him?" Zeke says, a grin playing at his lips as he jumps onto the train. Before I can say anything, I race after him, leaping onto the train, wincing at the shock of my bad landing, shaking my bones awkwardly, pressing bruises. I'm still aching after yesterday's … events. Tobias quickly follows after me and we both sit with our backs against the carriage of the car.

"What happened?"

"I fainted again. Except this time, I was leaning out of the train car and I'd have died if Lauren hadn't grabbed me. Sorry about all of this."

"Please be more careful."  
I raise my eyebrows at him. Unlikely. The Dauntless never seemed too keen on considering precautions. Never looking before they leap. Act first, think later. That's how the Dauntless work.

After several minutes arguing about the dare, we eventually spot sterile lights ahead of us, bright whites and blues blaring out of huge glass windows. Uriah jumps first, rolling as he lands.

"That, Christina," I say, pointing at Uriah, "is what I was trying to do."

Christina groans and jumps out of the carriage, me hot on her tail.

I stumble a bit on my landing before chasing after the other Dauntless towards the Erudite compound. The only sound is the chirp of summer cicadas and the patter of our footsteps as we near the building.

Will informs us that most of the Erudite study until late at night, so we decide that is where we shall go to first. Will shows us which way is the fastest and we pass several Erudites on the staircases, of whom give us dirty looks, all but one of around fifteen who looks like she longs to be with us. I can't help but wonder if she'll defect and join us in a year's time and that I will train her. I wink at her and she runs off giddily, as do I, charging after a glimpse of Shauna ahead of me.

The library was just as quiet as expected, over sixty Erudites reading, staring intently at pages, eyes scouring over books. I might never understand why Caleb chose to be here. It looks so _dull._ Perhaps these people like the calm and peace.

"Beatrice?"

We all halt and turn around, our pack silence by the voice of my full name.

"Caleb?" I say, recognising my brother's dirty blonde hair, ruffled and flopping over his eyes. I jog towards my brother and pull him into a tight embrace, unnecessary glasses pressing into the back of my head. I guess I really did miss him. As we pull away, Caleb presses several kisses to my cheek but straightens up at the sight of someone, and I spin around.

"Not cheating on me, are you, Tris?" Asks Tobias, pacing towards us, the rest of the group watching us. I roll my eyes.

"With my brother, no. Uriah on the other hand. That's another story," I joke, the sarcasm thick in my voice. He laughs but Caleb remains stiff upright.

"Are you dating my little sister?" He says, cautiously. Here comes the boyfriend-brother chat Tobias must have been expecting, although he couldn't have expected it because he didn't even know I had a brother until now. Two hands slip around my waist and Tobias pulls me into his body, arms circling around me protectively, kissing the crown of my head, much to my brother's distaste.

"Yes. I am dating your little sister," Tobias says defiantly.

To my surprise, Caleb seems relatively okay with that and only shrugs. "That's fine. Please look after her," he glances at the group of nosy Dauntless, waiting for us. "What are you all here for?"

Tobias and I just laugh before turning around to see the gang of Dauntless. To an Erudite, we must look rather intimidating, especially Lynn. Lynn has always been the bravest and most Dauntless to me, by far. She doesn't care what people think of her, as long as they see her as brave, and I admire her for that.

We don't get far back to the rest of the gang before Will comes falling through the glass panes, landing on glass shards scattered on a truly terrified Erudite. Will rubs his back and we run off, a librarian chasing us down the stairs, Caleb shouting at us as we run onwards. I catch a glimpse of the girl laughing and also running down the stairs ahead of us. She's coming next year. I'm sure of it. She finds this kind of recklessness exhilarating, like us.

We run to the train, but we don't get on. We haven't finished with the Erudite yet.

"Four," says Will, panting, "now you've been introduced to Tris's brother-ʺ

"I don't even know his name!"

"Oh well. Go and tell him you've done something awful to her, or something awful has just happened to her," finishes Will, gulping back air. Tobias just shrugs and we start running in the direction we came from.

Luckily for us, Caleb is crossing the courtyard after leaving the library so we scamper over to him, slowing down as he sees us. We walk hand in hand over to him and he stops for us.

"His name is Caleb," I discreetly whisper to Tobias and he nods.

"Hey, Caleb."

"You have my attention."

"There was another reason we came here today," he says, and he is very convincing and I begin to wonder if there was another reason to coming here. "We didn't come here so one of our friends could fall through the window. We came to tell you that Tris is pregnant."

The reaction isn't quite what we wanted; laughter. Puzzled expressions on our faces and a grin on his, we both gape.

"Caleb, how is this funny?" I ask, fake tears in my eyes, a sad croak in my voice.

Caleb shakes his head, still chuckling. "You're playing truth or dare, aren't you? You're just playing with me."

"No, Caleb," says Four, "we aren't."

"Yes, you are. I study everything to do with fertility, and know for a fact that Tris isn't pregnant, just by looking at her. When we lived in Abnegation, the sight of two people holding hands made her freeze. I know she has a fear of … you know."

"Sex?" Shouts Tobias, loud enough for most people outside to hear, and I stifle giggles as everyone turns to face us.

"Yeah. I've been studying her since I knew I was born an Erudite. I know how to recognise a fear," says Caleb.

"I think I'm going to leave," I say, "I'm rather creeped out, Caleb. What do you mean by 'studying me'?"

"Watching, more like."

"That's worse. Much worse."

Caleb has given us some unsatisfying reactions today. He really is getting rather boring. I sprint back to the rest of the group.

"What did he say?" Uriah asks eagerly.

"He just laughed," I admit and he furrows his brow in confusion. "I know. He works in the fertility department and could tell by looking at me I wasn't pregnant."

"Wait, stop. You told him you were pregnant?" Asks Christina, disbelieving.

"Yeah."

"Woah. Will, please never tell my sister that you knocked me up," warns Christina sternly, "she will not hesitate to punch you immediately."

"Thanks for letting me know?" He asks, even though it wasn't a question. Tobias comes with a grin on his face.

"Your brother seems like a nice guy."

"Thanks."

 _ **Thanks for still being interested in this fanfic, guys. I'd have given up on me by now and I know the ending is awful but I don't know where to go from there on so I would REALLY APPRECIATE SUGGESTIONS about that. I just saw the final Hunger Games movie. Woah. You were right, Maddy4781, it was very hard to sleep through, especially with a friend latching herself onto my arm at every jump scare.**_ **I'll try and post more regularly.** _ **I have no time to proof read, I'm afraid, so this'll have to do.**_ **-Flucy**


	8. Chapter 8

**_Hehehe… hiiiii. I am aware that I totally neglected you but I can't actually use one hand because I put my finger in a blender so my whole hand needs physio and it pains me to type but, nevertheless, I'm still writing – despite the pain. I also got a haircut and look a bit like Tris (Shailene Woodley) in Insurgent with my hair so short. I have lost my touch and writing style but hopefully I'll pick it back up quickly. Anywayyyy…_**

 ** _DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters._**

 ** _ONE YEAR LATER_**

 ** _Tris's P.O.V_**

I find it hard to believe that someone invented the alarm clock with the incentive that an incessant beeping at the crack of dawn would be a good idea. Nevertheless, after several minutes of grumbling and procrastinating, I pull myself out of bed, and drag myself to the large gold mirror that covers a large section of the wall. I take a glance at the clock on the wall to find that it is only six in the morning, which only furthers my dismay. Tobias must have set it last night to either annoy me or because he thinks I will actually need that long to ready myself. I wipe these thoughts from my mind and look in the mirror; if I keep drowning in my thoughts, I might need all the time I've been given, which would be something I don't want to admit to.

I scrutinise my face, wiping sleep from my eyes. I look fairly decent, for so early in the morning – my shortly cropped blonde hair flops onto my forehead and the purple bags under my eyes (from last night with Christina and Tobias) can easily be hidden with some concealer. I slip two silver balls into the lobe of each ear and put the number six into the cartilage piercing of my left ear and putting another silver ball into my right ear lobe. I add a bit of texture to my hair and then take a better look at my face. Most of the scars from last year's incident with Eric have faded, and can barely be noticed (if anything they make me look tough) but one prominent scar stretches from just above the bottom of my left eyebrow to just below the corner of my eye ( **A/N Picture Scar from the Lion King)**. I decide to not cover it with concealer and only cover the bags under my eyes, add simple, subtle winged eyeliner and then some mascara, outlining my eyebrows just a bit to make them look bolder. I need to intimidate the new initiates, and with my short, thin frame, I doubt that'll be happening unless I put on a bit of a show.

I slip on a pair of black high-waisted skinny jeans and a sleeveless ribbed turtleneck (in black). I don't look too impressive, or stunning, as Christina may put it, but it'll do. I take a look at my watch; it's now seven. If the first initiate lands in the net at about ten o'clock, I still have loads of time. I might even have longer if the initiates are pansycakes.

 **PAGEBREAKxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxpagebreak**

* * *

"Tris!" Someone shouts from behind me. "I am coming up from behind so please don't beat me up," Uriah jokes as I spin around, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

"Of all people," I say, "I would have thought you'd have let it go by now. Evidently not."

Uriah sniggers. "What else am I supposed to hold against you?" He jokes, as I turn to continue walking to the dining hall. "You're off to the dining hall aren't you, Tris?" Uriah asks, as if reassuring himself.

I roll my eyes and shake my head in disbelief. "Of course I am not going to the dining hall," I say, sarcasm thick in my voice.

"Wait, really?"

"No, I was off to the net." Uriah looks at me in shock.

"You do realise that the net is that way?" He says, pointing in the opposite direction.

With a stupid sweet smile on my face I say as innocently as possible, "oh yeah, I am aware of that. Did you know it says gullible on the ceiling?"

Uriah stops dead in his tracks and looks directly upwards and I can't help but sigh.

"It doesn't say gul-," Uriah pauses, a wave of realisation washing over his face. "Tris, I hate you, you know that, right?"

"I happen to be aware."

I keep walking in the direction of the dining hall and Uriah jogs up to me, rolling his eyes and sighing exaggeratedly, before slinging his arm uncomfortably around my shoulders. I tense a little, but I highly doubt Uriah noticed. Only if you were looking for it or if you were Tobias would you feel me shudder or hear my breath hitch up in my throat.

"Yeah, you keep rolling your eyes, Uriah, and you might just find a brain back there," I jeer, shoving him lightly away from me as we enter the dining hall. Tobias, Christina, Will, Zeke, Lynn and Shauna are all already sat down eating and talking about something in depth.

"I am offended, Tris." Uriah feigns a hurt look and I absent-mindedly roll my eyes, and Uriah notices. "SEE! You're rolling your eyes so shut up!" Uriah yells at me, grinning. Everyone in the dining hall looks at us and I start to blush. Tobias raises his eyebrows at me, and I dismiss him with a shake of my head. I slip into a seat next to him and grab a muffin from a tray in front of me. Uriah sits next to Zeke and Christina and grabs several muffins.

"How many muffins are you having?" Exclaims Christina, "I mean, I can't even count all of them!"

Zeke starts to point at each muffin as he mouths another number. "Six muffins, Uriah? I knew you were obese and had an eating disorder but this is where I put my foot down," Zeke says in a stern voice, pulling a muffin from Uriah's pile.

"Oi!" Uriah shouts, "I need my energy today - it's the first day of training the initiates. What about you, Tris? Terrified of your transfers?"

I hesitate. I hadn't really thought about it all that much. I look at Tobias next to me and he gives me a look as if to say there is nothing to be worried about. "No," I say weakly. I clear my throat and speak again louder. "No. I'm not worried about it. Frankly, I think it'll be funny. Watching the little kids squirm under the wrath of my fury!"

Tobias snorts. "So you want to make them just as afraid as you guys were of me?"

"Were we that bad?" Will pipes up. "Were we really that… scared of you?"

Tobias bites his lip. "You weren't that bad, Will. And you were fine too, Tris." He then turns to look pointedly at Christina. "You, however, I hated."

"Hate is a strong word!" Christina chirps, embarrassed.

"Hate is the most appropriate word," he continues, as Christina shrinks back into her seat. "I didn't like you when I met you when you interrupted me to say your witty comment about my name. I thought you'd be a narcissistic, self-obsessed little girl and I couldn't understand why Tris associated with you."

Christina winces.

Tobias smiles cheerily. "But obviously my opinion has now changed!"

Christina perks up a little and smiles a wry smile. "Umm, thanks?" She offers cautiously.

"You're welcome," Tobias says, turning to face me personally as the others turn off into their own conversations. "You look stunning, as always," he says, planting a kiss on my cheek.

"As do you."

He claps his hands together. "So. How are we going to organise the initiates this year? With Eric out of leadership, Max has left me in charge to organise the initiates."

"Oooooh," says Uriah, " does that mean we can use that huge abandoned training room that nobody uses so the five of us can train them altogether?"

Tobias considers this for a moment. "Yeah, we could do that if you want. Lynn? What do you think?"

"Sorry I was talking to Shauna. What are you saying?" Lynn apologised, blushing slightly. She must have shaved her head recently because it is much shorter than I remember it last.

"I just asked if you, Christina and Uriah would like to train in the old training room. The big, disused one."

"That's fine by me," Lynn replied, shrugging.

"So it's settled," stated Christina, "we'll be training in the training room that Tris and I don't know the location of."

"Yes."

"Perfect."

 **pagebreakxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxPAGEBREAK**

* * *

Tobias and I walk hand-in-hand to the net to welcome the newcomers, who should be on the train to the roof by now. I run a hand through my hair and huff. What if I am not a good enough trainer and I fail the first students under my command and they don't settle into Dauntless because I couldn't train them properly? Perhaps there is an unknown stress to this new job that I don't know about or that Tobias hasn't warned me of. I probably shouldn't be so paranoid. I'm probably just freaking out over nothing. Suddenly I just stop walking and I can't see straight. Not again.

"Four," I manage to whimper before I fall. I don't know which direction I fall in but all I know is that I'm lying down and I can't see anything and that I'm really warm. The black fog in my eyes has lifted slightly from the darkness I was completely absorbed in earlier and I groan before trying to sit up. As my hearing comes back to me I hear someone repeating my name. Four.

"Sorry," I mumble, trying to get to my feet, stumbling a little.

"Please say you aren't going to start fainting again. I thought you got over this problem," Four says worriedly, two hands clamped around my shoulders.

"I won't," I say, my voice wavering with uncertainty. I bite my cheek. "I don't know what made me faint just then. I was just overthinking something. I'm fine." I really hope I won't be fainting during training. That would make me look weak.

He doesn't look convinced but doesn't argue. "If you say so. Are you going to go by the name Six during training?"

"I think so, yeah."

"And are we going to hide our relationship?"

"I think it would make us look too soft if we were obviously together so I'd say we hide it from them. Besides, most people already think that I just follow you around already and nobody is really intimidated by me so from now on, we are just colleagues," I say, explaining the situation to Instructor Four. He pulls his hand out of mine and straightens his shirt before nodding. He puts his hand on the small of my back and gently guides me towards the net.

We push through the crowds of Dauntless and greet Zeke who mouths something at Tobias that I don't quite catch. We quickly join Uriah, Christina and Lynn at the net and I smile.

"Where were you guys?" Asks Lynn accusingly. I contemplate telling them the truth about how I fainted but I decide against it, cutting off Tobias before he's even said a word.

"We were discussing some things. As of now, you will call me Six, and Four and I are not an item," I announce.

Christina scoffs. "Good luck with that, _Six_."

Who do you think will jump first?" Asks Tobias, addressing all of the Dauntless members. I hear a lots of yells of 'Dauntless-borns' but I also hear several cheers of 'Erudite' and 'Candor' and even one or two 'Abnegation'. I highly doubt we'll get any more Abnegation transfers. I think Tobias and I will be the only ones.

Uriah shushes us and the audience before turning back to the net. I think this is the only time I've ever heard the Dauntless be quiet, although being the first jumper is respected so the least they could do is be quiet.

Above, I hear Max and Harrison talking to the new initiates and their shadows are cast on the floor. I then see another shadow step up. I hear a whoop of joy as someone jumps from the roof, one I can only presume to be a Dauntless-born yell. And I was a right. A boy in black lands in the net with a thump and laughs before rolling to the edge of the net, where Uriah and Tobias help him off. I remember that exhilarating feeling of falling when I jumped from the roof. I have done it time and time again but nothing can live up to that first time of jumping.

"What's your name?" Asks Christina, her shoulders pushed back and chin raised to make her look taller and more sophisticated, and it does giver her that effect of a more serious person.

"Mekhi," he replies, catching his breath. I can now get a good look at his face; he has a striking resemblance to Uriah. A dark complexion with a close to shaved head and moss green eyes. He notices me staring and flashes me a beaming white smile. I quickly look away and nod at Tobias.

"Make the announcement, _Four_."

"First jumper, Mekhi!" He roars and the Dauntless crowd erupts once more.

 ** _I know I haven't written much but I was getting distracted really easily (ooh a squirrel!) and I wanted to get a chapter up by the end of today so I'll keep writing but honestly, I'm getting disinterested in writing and reading so I may be out of my groove for a while. Sorry. -Flucy_**


	9. Chapter 9

**_I'm surprised I'm back myself, to be honest. I just thought you deserved it. Oh, and to answer your question, BlackCat678, my name is Flucy because I wanted to keep my name, but change it a little bit. I'm sure, from my username, it isn't hard to figure out what my real name is. Let me know if you figure it out._**

 ** _I've been having a problem with formatting my page breaks because Veronica does page breaks with the '+++' so I am doing that but it never works so please let me know if you have any tips because my work actually doesn't make sense without them and it's annoying me._**

 ** _DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters._**

 ** _Tris's P.O.V_**

As Mekhi runs off, another thump lands in the net; a girl from Candor grins before turning to us.

"Hey," she says to us, combing her fingers through her dark, bushy brown hair. Christina offers her hand to the girl and she uses it to pull herself off from the net. Christina looks at the girls as if she recognises her but I can see it in her eyes that she won't remember this girl.

"What's your name, Candor?" Lynn asks, relatively rudely, discreetly elbowing Christina from her daze.

"Margot," the girl replies, nodding to herself, as if she was trying to reassure herself that her name, was in fact, Margot. I remember back to when I was asked my name and didn't know what to say, so I can relate that feeling of uncertainty. A new faction; a new identity.

"Second jumper, Margot!" Uriah yells, and Margot scampers off to join Mekhi, Christina's gaze following her. "Did I do good?" asks Uriah, much to Four's amusement.

"Yeah, Uriah," he chortles, "you did good."

Christina is still watching the Candor girl when another initiate in blacks thumps into the net.

"Name?" I ask the girl, helping her off the net with my hand. Her blonde, shoulder length hair perfectly accents her cold, blue eyes. Somehow, though, I don't think this girl was in it for the good looks. I think she just got genetically lucky, and doesn't care about her appearance. She doesn't even glance away from any of our eyes, scanning us all expectantly.

"I asked your name, initiate?" I reiterate, losing my patience with her.

"Heh, sorry. Jamie," she tells us. She even has a more commonly male name. I have a good feeling about Jamie succeeding here, even if she wasn't the first jumper. Jamie will fit right into this faction when she passes initiation with flying colours. Let's just hope she can keep up to speed with what we are telling her. Four announces the third jumper to the compound. Christina is still watching Margot.

"Hey, Chris, you alright?" asks Lynn, for the first time since I've known, concerned.

Christina zones back in. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel like I know her, but I don't know how. It'll come to me. Give me time."

The next initiates blur past my eyes and I don't take notice to their names. The only initiates I remember are Mekhi, Margot and Jamie. There are probably twenty-odd initiates, only a few more Dauntless-borns than transfers.

We all turn around on the steps up to the net and the initiates gather around us below.

"If you aren't an initiate, SCRAM," Lynn shouts, and all of the gathered Dauntless members disperse and head back to their everyday jobs. Someone lurks in the shadows.

"We aren't idiots," said Uriah, rolling his eyes, nonchalant, "you in the shadows, get out of here."

Zeke steps forward, grinning. "But I want to see my little-,"

"Get out!" roars Four, and I look at him, startled to hear him so loud. Apparently none of us were expecting it, as all of the initiates look terrified, as do Uriah, Christina, Lynn and I. He looks at us and just shrugs. I clear my throat and everyone's attention is drawn to me.

"We will be your instructors for the duration of your training," I say loudly, my voice echoing around the room. "My name is Six and this is Four. We will primarily be the transfer instructors," I say, gesturing to Tobias. I hear several snickers and Four raises an eyebrow.

"Is something funny?" he asks and the whole room is once again silenced. "I didn't think so. If you want to survive here, shut up."

Lynn raises her voice. "And our names are Lynn, Christina and Uriah. We will be the Dauntless-born trainers."

Uriah interrupts. "However. Unlike last year, you will be training in the same room, so instead of having just a couple of instructors, you will have all five of us."

"There are three stages to training: physical, mental and emotional," says Christina, "and we will push you to the limits in all areas, and you will push yourselves, too, to avoid being cut."

I hear murmurs of disapproval and confusion, and Tobias decides to further explain.

"We will rank you after each stage, but after the end of the first stage, four of you will be cut and live with the factionless. You chose us, now we choose you."

"Now this is where we split. Lynn, Chris, Uriah, you take your Dauntless-borns and show them the dormitories. We'll show the transfers around," I instruct. They all nod and then beckon their group to follow them.

I clap my hands together. "Let's go." Four and I hop down from the ledge we were stood on and make our way through the crowd to the exit. Tobias and I walk several paces ahead of the initiates, who are mingling and chatting behind us. I'm finding it hard not to slip my hand into Tobias's hand, but then I remember that he is Four. Not Tobias, but Four. They are two very different people and sometimes I forget which one I'm with.

"Hey," I say softly.

"Hey," he replies, "what do you think of the new initiates?"

I spin around and walk backwards whilst examining them and do a quick head count. There are eleven transfers in total; six Candor and five Erudite. No Abnegation this year, although I guess that is to be expected. I spin back around and keep walking forward.

"They look alright, I guess," I answer. "I'm surprised no Candor has said anything about our names or my height."

Tobias snorts. "Sometimes the Candor transfers realise pretty early on that they left that faction for a reason and the sooner they drop their old habits, the better."

I nod in agreement and walk in silence until we reach the Pit. We both stop and the initiates are all awe-struck. We give them a moment to take everything.

"This is the Pit," says Four, "and this is where you will spend most of your time here. Once we are done with the tour, you will need to make your way back here to buy some new clothes. Shopping cards with point on are issued here but we aren't wasting time getting them now. Let's get going."

We carry on walking until we reach the Chasm. Memories of Al resurface, but I then flood them with other thoughts and I regain composure before it is evident I ever lost it. "This is the Chasm," I state, gesturing to the large abyss next to me. "This is here to show the fine line between bravery and idiocy. Someone jumps every year. Don't let it be you."

The initiates are quiet and respectful, probably scared. If I was told someone killed themselves every year, I would be terrified.

We quickly conclude the tour after showing the transfers to their dormitories and answering any questions.

"Training starts tomorrow at seven. Meet us at the Pit or be factionless."

"But," an Erudite chips in, "how do you expect us to wake up?"

"Definitely left Erudite for a reason," mutters Tobias under his breath and I stifle laughter and glare at him.

"What's your name, Nose?" I say, silently scolding myself for using a derogatory nickname for the former Erudite boy.

"Mitch Hardling," he replies, raising his chin and pushing his shoulders back. I walk up to him and even though I am considerably smaller than him, my purposeful gait and cocky stride make me look more intimidating. I walk right up to him until I can feel his breath on my face.

"Well, _Mitch_ , how did you wake up when you were in Erudite?"

"With an alarm clock."

I do an obviously fake surprised face and snap my fingers. "Problem solved. Use your brain. Thinking isn't just for the Erudite."

Four manages to hide his smile well as I walk back to him.

"Be there," he reminds everyone before we leave and slam the dormitory door behind us. I sigh and roll my eyes.

"They'll be the death of me," I joke. "Were we that bad last year?"

"Maybe not as bad as them, but still pretty awful."

I groan and we turn in direction to Uriah's apartment so we can discuss our opinions on the initiates, not that I have many opinions. I would be lying if I said I had been paying attention, so I just pray Tobias was watching more carefully than me.

 **PAGEBREAKxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxpagebreak**

* * *

"How are your idiots?"

Christina and Uriah start talking about how awful their initiates are whilst Lynn just shakes her head and sighs. I think Lynn understands how silence and actions can speak louder than words.

"What about your transfers, you two?" Asks Uriah, after accounting a tale about the reaction of an initiate when finding out about the dormitories being for both girls and boys. I just look at Tobias, who rolls his eyes.

"Some are a bit dim," he says, "but no one looks too murderous, except those Candor lads. We better keep an eye on them. Other than that, no one is hitting on us or pretending to be superior to us."

"Oh no! What a catastrophe it would be if our legendary Dauntless couple were mocked by some transfers!" Christina yelps, jokingly. I give her a soft punch in the shoulder and laugh a bit. I can guarantee a bit of competitive fun happening between the transfer instructors and the Dauntless-born instructors and it only makes me more pumped for the up and coming game of capture the flag.

"So," says Tobias, "how are we going to train them? Lauren and I used to make a training regime so we could plan out the fortnight ahead of us."

"I don't know why but I always thought you just turned up and picked anything to do," I say reluctantly, "I don't really know why but it just felt like the sort of thing that you'd do."

Lynn nods in agreement. "I agree with Tris – or should I say Six – on this one. Sometimes Lauren turned up and just said 'what shall we do today?' and we got to pick the day's activities."

"That was such a good idea," Uriah muses fondly. "Y'know, I actually enjoyed getting pick the activity. Maybe we could give them a choice between knives and guns for the first two day and then for the next five days do fights?"

"That's fine by me," I say, wishing Tobias had organised our initiation like this.

"And me."

"And evidently that's fine by you two," Tobias adds in, looking at Lynn and Uriah, "and if it's fine by you and Chris, Tris, I think this is what we shall do."

"It's Chris _tina_ , actually, but yeah, this arrangement sounds good to me."

We sit in silence for about thirty seconds, just planning things out in our heads.

"Guys," Uriah says, interrupting our thoughts, "I'm hungry."

"Wow, what a surprise," retorts Lynn, rolling her eyes, but getting to her feet. "Take my hand I'll pull you up." Uriah gratefully takes the hand and hoists himself up, using Lynn as an anchor to the ground.

"Cheers, Lynno."

"Shut up, Uriahyo."

Christina snorts. "Grow up, you two."

Outside Uriah's apartment, I notice that the corridor is wide enough for all five of us to walk in a row, so I decide to propose a little game. "Race you guys to the transfer dorms?"

"I'm in."

"Me too."

"As am I."

"I'm going to thrash you," says Tobias, huffing, but grinning nonetheless.

"I know, and I don't doubt that I'll come last but it's worth a shot!" I say happily, lining up on a mark on the floor. We all turn around and lie on our stomachs, facing away from the dorms. This starting position might be harder for Tobias to get up from, so I can use it to my advantage.

"On 'go,'" I say, "Three, two, one, GO!"

I manage to jump up quickly, with Lynn hot on my tail. I don't risk looking back but I can hear Tobias to the right of me catching up and I speed up. As we turn a corner into the dining hall, Uriah hurries up until we are all charging around the hall.

"MOVE," yells Lynn, dodging in and out of people, who are laughing at us. I notice an empty table and take the opportunity to leap up onto it and run over tables instead of pushing through the crowd like everyone else and I find myself at an advantage from the rest of the trainers, who are still struggling with parting the crowd, though I think the people gathered around them are purposefully trying to stop them from getting through, just to give me the upper hand. The Dauntless-born initiates seem to be bunching around Uriah when I risk a glance back behind me. Uriah, being the good sport that he is, laughs it off and shoves them out of the way and I go back to pelting down the corridor, knowing that Uriah will be catching up with me soon. I see a familiar face further down, not one that I'm particularly pleased to see, but that doesn't affect my pace.

"Excuse me, Peter," I yell and he looks around, trying to find the voice. When he sees me he sighs and mutters something about me being too happy for a Stiff but I don't care because I might actually have a chance of winning this race. I fly past Peter and see the home straight and start to speed up, sprinting. The transfer dormitories must only be a hundred metres further up when Tobias comes flying past both Uriah and I, with Christina and Lynn both grumbling a bit further behind us. Tobias glances behind him, which slows him and I take the chance to quicken my pace, and soon enough I'm neck and neck with Tobias, Uriah literally just behind me.

"Hey," Tobias pants breathlessly, and I raise an eyebrow at him, despite the fact he probably didn't notice. Behind me, I hear Lynn and Christina chatting whilst they run and Uriah tutting.

The dormitories aren't even twenty metres away when Uriah leaps onto Tobias's back, taking him down in the process. I let out a breathy chuckle and help Uriah up from the floor, whilst leaving Tobias to get up himself.

"You ruined our bet, Uri," complains Christina, who jogs with Lynn to a halt.

"What did you bet?" puffs Tobias, his hands on his knees to help him catch his breath.

"That you'd let Tris win," says Lynn, holding her hand out to Christina, indicating payment is in need. Christina fumbles in her pocket and is about to give Lynn something for payment but remembers something. "Technically," Christina says, "the race was never finished, so I am not paying you to say that Four let Tris win when the race isn't even finished!"

I look at Tobias and we look into each other's eyes before I quickly turn and run the rest of the distance to the dorms, several metres ahead. I lean on the dormitory door and face the guys, and Tobias is staring at me, incredulous.

"I win!" I shout at them, just as someone opens the door to the dormitory and I fall backwards onto someone's knees before quickly jumping up. I see Uriah stifle a chuckle and Lynn elbows him. I turn around and see Margot looking at me with a smile plastered on her face. Luckily, there is no one else who saw, and I press a finger to my lips.

"Shhhh," I say, "tell no one."

Margot shrugs, and ruffles her hand through her brown, shoulder length hair before looking at the breathless instructors just a couple of metres away.

"I'll tell no one," she says just to me, then clears her throat, "but do you mind me asking what's going on?"

"We were racing," starts Uriah but then he just shakes his head. "It's a long story."

"We just came to get you for dinner," Instructor Four says, walking over to me.

"And all of you came?" Asks Margot, brow furrowed. Come to think of it, it was unnecessary for all of us to come get the transfers, when just one of us could have gone.

"Oh shut up, transfer," mocks Christina, sarcasm evident. Margot pretends to zip her lips and runs off. Tobias and I share a glance before bursting into the dorm.

"Alright guys, it's dinner now so follow us there now or find your own way later," I say, without panting, but my face still undoubtedly red, although Tobias is still red too, so the initiates don't look at me as weirdly as they could have.

"What happened to your faces?" A Candor girl asks. She reminds me a bit of Christina.

"What's your name?" Spits Tobias.

"Tiff."

"I don't see why I should tell you, Tiff," he whispers in a very intimidating voice, "so instead, I'll just recommend you SHUT UP." He roars the last part of the sentence and I smirk at the terrified expression on her plastic face. Tobias and I leave the dorm and I remind them that dinner ends at eight tonight, rather than nine, and we leave together, hands glued to our legs to avoid grabbing at each other.

"Hey," I say, now alone, at last.

"What?" Tobias spits, to my surprise, and he instantly takes it back. "Sorry, I'm just- withdrawal symptoms from not being able to be with you."

He finished with a romantic look on his face that I can't help laugh at.

"Oh God, that's so cheesy," I say, elbowing him in the side. He chuckles a bit.

"Anyway, you were going to say something?"

"Ah, yes, I was just checking to see if you knew the names of any of the initiates?"

"I know a few," he says, pouting. "Aside from the ones I presume you remember, there's a Candor boy called Clark, who seems nice enough, sort of like Will but cheekier and then there's an Erudite girl called Tia, who looks like the Myra of the group, probably just following a boyfriend, who I'd guess was," he pauses, thinking, "perhaps Jacob? I don't know. Anyway, Jacob is cheeky and will probably say something that'll get on my nerves in the near future but he seems like a smiley enough kid. And that's all of the ones I remember. "

"Huh," I say, nodding.

"Wait, I give you that amazing description and I get a one word answer?"

"Yes," I reply, deliberately answering with only one word to annoy him.

"Please stop, _Six._ "

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Oh just shut up, would you?" he chastised gently, a smile tugging at his lips. We stand outside the door to the dining hall and compose ourselves and settle into instructor mode before setting foot inside. Most of the transfers are sat down; they must have run ahead of us whilst we were talking. I see Zeke sat with Uriah and he waves us over.

"Four! Six! Glad to see you could finally join us," Zeke jokes, but in a way that demands an answer to an unasked question.

"The transfers were asking questions so we took a bit longer than usual, didn't we Six?"

"Yes."

"Oh, please stop with the one word answers," begs Tobias and I just raise an eyebrow at him before biting into a burger. Tobias looks at Zeke and gestures as if to say, _look, look at her!_

"You didn't even get an answer at all, then," Uriah points out, a grin playing at his lips when he pops a piece of muffin into his mouth.

"Come on, we are meant to be strict instructors! At least behave like an adult, Tris," Tobias teases, though still with his emotionless façade on.

"I'm seventeen, why should I behave like an adult!" I complain.

Zeke jumps out of his seat. "Wahey, a-," Zeke pauses so he can count something, "a nine word sentence, ten words, depending on the way you look at it."

"Wow, Zeke, I didn't know you could count," I say sarcastically, causing Uriah to snicker. Zeke shoots him a glare and stubs out his laughter.

A burst of laughter comes from the transfer table and Tobias and I decide to investigate. We get up, leaving our trays of food, and stride over.

"What's going on?" I say, sitting down next to Tia, who immediately stiffens at the sight of me. Tobias sits opposite me, next to Mitch, who shuffles a little bit further away. I'd have probably done the same.

"No-nothing," stutters Tia, shuffling awkwardly.

I scoff. "We aren't idiots. Unless it's normal for you to spontaneously burst out into laughter?"

"Yeah, Six, that's totally it," mutters Mekhi, jokingly.

"Careful," I warn and he nods, before calming down a bit. The initiates fall back into conversation and I eavesdrop a little. It is interesting to know about other people's lives, even if it is a bit nosey. One girl, Tiff, I think, talks about her family, and how amazing her life was back in Candor, whilst the others just nod and mumble in agreement every once in a while. I look at Tobias, who sighs a bit, before gesturing back to our table. We stand up and lean against the end of the table, and try to get everyone's attention, which we fail to do over the loudness of the hall. Tobias, losing his patience, slams his fist on the table, causing everyone to jump and be quiet.

"The Pit at seven in the morning tomorrow. Be there," Tobias sternly reminds them. We begin to walk back to our table, but Tobias, noticing the silence we left behind us, adds something else. "Faction before blood. Don't forget." I think Tiff understood that he was directing that part at her, and without breaking eye contact with us, nods knowingly before turning back to her meal. I think this year's transfers will be alright to deal with, as I haven't seen a group like Peter's form yet, and everyone looks strong enough, aside from Tia. We make our way back to Zeke and Uriah and bicker about petty things before I head to bed.

 ** _This chapter was the longest one yet, I think, and_** ** _I'm_** ** _quite proud. I do have to admit, it was a filler chapter, but I have a fabulous idea in store for you guys. And_** ** _I'm_** ** _going to do something really unspeakable. Truly, truly despicable. Some of you will hate me, others will think it has great character progression potential, but even I am sceptical about my plan, but I shall forego it. Bear with me. -Flucy_**


	10. Chapter 10

_**So I told you I was going to do something awful, but I don't think I'll do it too soon. I was going to do like a chapter ten thingy where I make this chapter incredibly long and combine three chapters into one, but that would mean you guys had to wait longer and overall, it would just suck, so I decided against it. I'm surprised I have so many people following this chapter but REVIEW GUYS! Honestly!**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters.**_

 _ **Tris's P.O.V.**_

I'm already dressed and ready for the day by the time my alarm goes off. It catches me slightly by surprise, but I hop daintily over the bags which cover my floor and slam my fist onto the clock to shut it up. Today, I decided to wear black cargo trousers with a plain black off the shoulder top. Very casual, but easy to move in, good for throwing knives or firing guns. I decide to only wear eyeliner and let my scars show fully. I don't think the initiates noticed them yesterday, because they didn't have any snide remarks. Maybe they will think I look tougher.

I slip a leather jacket on other the top and slip on a gold watch, adding in my usual earrings before heading to the door, but someone else gets there first, knocking on the door before slipping in. Mentally, I ready myself for a fight, but not many attackers knock on the door. I smile a bit when I see it's only Tobias.

"You might want to unclench your fist," he says, noticing my hand. "You're cutting the circulation off to your fingers and your knuckles have gone white."

I release my hand and shake it out a bit, Tobias smirking a bit. "Oh, shut up."

He sniggers a bit. "So how come you're ready so early? Normally you've only just woken up."

"Couldn't sleep," I say shrugging before hugging him. I finally see Tobias as his own age, be it nineteen or twenty. We never knew when we were born in Abnegation because we didn't celebrate birthdays, so for all I know, I could be seventeen or even eighteen, though I highly doubt that I'm eighteen. Tobias smiles a wry smile when he pulls out of the hug.

"Ready to get your instructor mode on?"

I kiss him lightly on the lips. "Now I am."

I show him out of the door and lock it behind me, before slipping the key into one of my many pockets.

"Hey Four?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember when we played Candor or Dauntless at Zeke's that one time? The time when Will fell through the roof of the Erudite compound?"

Four chuckles a bit. "How could I forget?"

"Well, anyway," I continue, "when we were running away from that furious librarian, another Erudite girl started laughing and running with us. She looked about sixteen. Do you think she transferred here?"

Tobias considers this for a moment. "Quite possibly, yeah. I can picture what she looked like; shoulder length blonde hair, very white smile?"

"That's the one."

I push open the door into the dining hall, and surprisingly, there are quite a lot of people here. We both look towards the transfer table for the girl with long hair. There are only two transfers at the table. The rest must have ignored my comment about getting an alarm clock and these two didn't take pity on them. Good for them.

"Was it her?" I ask, pointing to a girl who fits the description perfectly. Tobias nods and I smile a bit. I don't know why but this just makes me feel warm inside. Perhaps it's that feeling of knowing that some people have always known where they have belonged at heart.

"I already like her," I say, before we head over to Christina, Lynn and Uriah, who are already tucking into a breakfast of muffins and toast. They all look at me a bit weirdly and I furrow my brow, then remembering that I didn't cover up my scar. They quickly look away, not really bothered by it. I see Uriah with a huge plate of muffins and share a glance with Tobias as we sit down, silently planning something. We slip down next to each other and say our good mornings.

"Uriah, look, a bird!" I half shout.

Uriah spins around in his seat "Where?"

Tobias and I take the opportunity to each grab a muffin from his plate.

"Can't you see it?" Says Lynn, catching on to our plan, "it's right there!"

"No, I can't see it, and honestly, I don't care. It's not like I haven't seen a bird before," he says, turning back round to his plate. Tobias and I both bite into our muffins.

"Hey, where'd my-," Uriah's eyes widen, "I hate you Tris. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

"It still says gullible on the ceiling," I point out, but Uriah is having none of it and just bites into his muffin, looking away from us, avoiding eye contact as if his life depended on it, causing Christina to chortle quite loudly, choking on her piece of toast. Tobias glares at her and she miraculously silences. We all finish our breakfast and head to the Pit, the two transfers checking the time to see if they should follow us or if they had longer. It was only quarter to seven – they still had time.

We walk in silence this time to the Pit, to see if the initiates were actually prepared or not. We arrive and there are no initiates in sight, though they still had a bit of time until they needed to get here.

"Relax, Six," says Christina, walking up to me and putting a hand on my shoulder. "They'll be here."

"And if not," Lynn adds with a grim smile, "we'll make sure they will be next time."

Uriah and Four must have left to set up the targets for the knives and guns. I hope the initiates want to do guns today, mainly because I want to see who hesitates when a weapon is first thrust into their arms. I want to see if they respond like me, trying to get the weapon as far away from me as possible. I think when someone first gives you the power to kill, you reject it if you accept the power and take it seriously, and take it if you want to kill. If Caleb was given a gun, I don't know what he'd do, and I'm ashamed to say that I don't know about my own brother. I must see him soon.

The first initiates begin to arrive, and it soon becomes clear that none of the transfers, besides the Erudite we recognised and her friend woke up. Eventually, Uriah and Tobias arrive, and all of the initiates and instructors go quiet.

"Where are the others?" Asks Uriah curiously, and everyone shrugs.

"I think they're still in the dormitories, asleep," the Erudite chips in helpfully.

"Gee, thanks," retorts Lynn, rolling her eyes, "we wouldn't have guessed."

She shrinks back into the crowd and blushes.

"Come with me, Six," instructs Four. "Uriah, Lynn, Christina, you lot make sure these ones don't do anything stupid."

I hear Christina mutter something about not being able to guarantee anything but I ignore it and leave the Pit with Four.

"So how do we get to wake them up?" I ask giddily. One glare from Tobias calms me down, though. "Not a morning person, huh?"

"You could say that," he replies, "but don't forget we need to be stern, reliable instructors, so we have to keep composed."

"Of course."

"Which means," he adds, "that we are only allowed to wake the initiates up by turning the light on and yelling at them."

I groan and together, we begin to walk down the corridor.

"So you didn't cover up the scar on your eyebrow today," Four points out.

"I didn't really feel like covering it. It's gonna be there for the rest of my life so I might as well get used to having it," I shrug.

He smiles at me a little. "It's nice to see you with a naked face."

I scoff. "Naked face? You make it sound like a dirty remark."

 **pagebreakxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxPAGEBREAK**

"Get up."

I flick the light on and off, whilst Four walks up and down the stretch of floor between the beds yelling. Everyone is moaning. I decide to set them straight.

"Five minutes to be in the Pit or a day to get yourself with the Factionless," I threaten, and everyone shoots out of bed, scurrying about like ants, still dazed. I smirk at Four's proud look and we leave the dorms. I hear snippets of conversations about what happened to my face, but I ignore them.

"Nice job, newbie."

"Why thank you," I say, impersonating and Erudite with a posh accent. I wonder if Caleb is like that. I shake the thought from my head quickly. Not the thought about him, but the thought about him as my brother. _Faction before blood,_ I think, _I can't be missing Caleb._ Four very briefly squeezes my hand and offers me a smile, which I reciprocate, before allowing my gaze to fall, my smile accompanying it.

Christina, Lynn and Uriah are chatting amiably when we arrive. Most of the Dauntless-borns have turned up, only a few still dawdling in, who earn glares from Lynn. Out of those three, Lynn is definitely the most intimidating; you could even call her scary. Even in Dauntless, it isn't often you come across girls with shaved heads and such a powerful personality. Maybe powerful isn't the right word, but it is one I word certainly associate with Lynn. She is a very pretty girl, without even intending to be. She rarely wears make up – I'm surprised Christina doesn't have anything to say about this - doesn't dress like most stereotypical girls our age, and has a fierce yet cheeky attitude that makes Lynn, Lynn.

"Hey guys," I say quietly as Tobias and join the others. They greet us back, eyes on the clock.

"We gave them five minutes to get here," says Tobias, answering the unasked question. "Is that enough time to get ready?"

"No," says Christina very bluntly. Tobias looks surprised. "Well, it wouldn't be enough time for me, anyway. Some initiates will be running in with their trousers around their ankles, I can tell you that much."

Lynn and Uriah mumble in agreement as Margot and several others join us. Mitch seems to have joined a group of boys who all remind me of Peter. There are three of them, all boys, and all with a creepy look about them. I look away.

The rest of the transfers have a minute to join us when some more people stumble in, catching their breaths. It isn't far from their dormitories to the Pit, and Christina looks at them with raised eyebrows.

"We got lost," one of them hastily explains. "We're the last ones."

"Finally," Uriah mutters.

"Anyway," interrupts Four, "we will either be doing guns or knives, but this year, you will choose which activity you will be doing. For guns, go to the window, and for knives, go to the wall."

I hear Christina singing 'to the window, to the wall,' very quietly, but loud enough to be heard, and Four glares at her, shutting her right up.

Most of the initiates go towards the wall, which means we will be doing knives today.

"Knives it is," I state, before we start walking in the direction of the larger training room, the one I have never been in before. All the instructors walk in a single line spread across the width of the corridor, except when we have to walk single file through some of the thinner corridors. The initiates are louder than I remember us being, but then again, there were twice less people.

This training room is a lot bigger than the one I trained in. I notice that the door is one of the only things not caked in dust. Everyone coughs when they enter, but they soon get over the thick clouds of grey coating everything. Caleb once told me on the bus home that dust is mainly composed of human skin. Around seventy to eighty percent, he said, but I hadn't believed him, which was selfish of me. Everyone knows that it is selfish to lie. Candor and Abnegation are very similar, in some ways.

We all walk over to the knife table and stop there. Tobias leans into me.

"Are you going to stand in front of the target?" He whispers to me, and a grin creeps onto my face. I walk towards the target and lean back against it, my head reaching further up the board than it did last year. Soon enough, this will become tradition for us. If Tobias throws a knife just above my head, it will be like a measuring chart too.

"I am going to show you how to correctly throw a knife, whilst the others will explain what I am doing," says Tobias casually, before launching a knife several inches above my head. The initiates are horrified, Christina is snickering and Lynn and Uriah look a bit confused and anxious, but know how good Four is at aiming, so don't complain. Neither do any initiates. I grin as I look up to see whereabouts the knife landed. It is quite far away from me.

"You can do better than that, Four," I taunt, mimicking Eric from last year. This time, he does it slowly, going step by step and allowing time for Uriah and Lynn to explain what is happening. Christina isn't all that great at knife throwing, so she could do with just watching him again and stays silent. Once they have finished explaining what is happening, analysing Four's stance and technique, he continues to throw the knives. The next knife lands a couple of centimetres away from my arm, and all the initiates hold a breath. I wonder if he will skim my ear again, like last year. I doubt he actually wants to hurt me, but just wants to do it for the sake of routine.

"I thought you were better than this, Four," I tease, nodding lightly as if to tell him to go for the ear shot, just to scare the initiates. And he gets the message. The next knife cuts through the air and also part of my ear and everyone panics a little bit, whilst I just smirk. I put my hand to my ear and it comes away bloody, as expected. I rub the blood into my trousers.

"You know your ear is bleeding, right?" Margot exclaims, her face rather pale.

"No, I wasn't aware," I say sarcastically. "Now get to work."

All of the initiates scramble to get good knives and all the instructors come in for a group huddle.

"You gonna explain this to us, Tris," Uriah says, using my real name, "or just gonna leave us guessing?"

I smile. "Maybe I'll just leave you guessing," I say, which causes Lynn and Uriah to turn to Christina with hungry stares. She looks at me, asking for permission to tell, and I grant it. She recounts the tale of last year's initiation whilst Four and I leave to go help the others. I walk over to Margot, whose knives rarely even reach the target. I correct her footing and tell her to flick her wrist more, and soon enough, her knife is hitting the target. She thanks me and I move onto the Erudite girl, who is doing rather well, but I just want an excuse to talk to her so I decide to pretend she isn't doing very well.

"What's your name?" I ask her, striding over.

"Kate," she replies, sending another knife flying into the board, sticking to the lower left corner of the target. She is the first transfer to hit the target and make the blade stick.

"Nice shot," I comment, pulling her shoulder back a bit. "Just make sure you keep your head up, aim a bit higher than you want the knife to land and keep your shoulders back. Oh and make sure you follow through with your arm."

Kate huffs a happy pant and nods, before throwing the knife again. It lands just below the centre.

"Good. Keep it up."

Most of the other transfers are being helped by Lynn, Uriah Christina and Four, because the Dauntless-borns are already very skilled, but I go over to Mekhi when he beckons me. I find this unusual, as Mekhi does not need my help. His knives are sticking consecutively each time, all of them scattered in places that would cause a fatal wound. Mekhi spins the knife in his hand when I reach him.

"So how come you aren't groping your boyfriend all the time?" He says with a cheeky grin on his face, launching the knife into the target.

"So how come you think you are allowed to ask me that?" I retort, emotionlessly. I wait a moment for a response, but he just ignores me. "I don't want the transfers to think I'm soppy," I justify. Mekhi nods.

"Well, all the Daunless-borns don't think that but I understand," he says. "I'll make sure they don't tell any of the transfers, though Tiff is making eyes at your man."

I turn around and catch her staring at Four as he helps her, several paces away, not getting too close. He must have caught her staring as well.

"Thanks for telling me, Mekhi," I say, flashing a small smile. I wait a moment, watching the next knife sail through the air.

"You didn't cover up the scar over your either," he states, glancing over at me. He looks at me as if he instantly regrets saying that.

"What, do you want a medal?" I snap.

"No," he says, sheepish, "it's just that you always cover it."

I sigh. "Yeah, I know, but it makes me look tougher. And I'm lazy. Nobody's said anything about it so I don't really care."

"Fair enough," he says cheerfully. I clear my throat.

"Now get back to work, initiate."

We leave the initiates working at the knives until around noon, when we dismiss them. As soon as they are all out of the room, I wait until the door falls shut before pressing my lips to Four's. He is surprised but kisses me back, slipping a hand around my waist, and I pull away, grinning. I put my arm around his waist and we join Uriah, Lynn and Christina at a table in the corner of the room. They seem to be chatting amiably about something. We sit down on the table and they look up at us leaning on each other.

"I'm still not used to seeing my instructor with my best friend," Christina says, shaking her head.

"Neither," says Uriah. "I mean, you would always come back to our apartment and wait for Zeke once you upset the date he set you up with."

I guffaw and he elbows me lightly in the arm. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but really? I thought girls were falling over your feet," I mock dramatically, making Four laugh.

"I have a way with words," says Four, "that somehow turns a lot of them off."

"I'm surprised you haven't messed it up with Tris yet," comments Lynn, making all of us laugh.

"Enough, enough, please," he pleads jokingly. "But on a more serious not, after lunch we need to assess and make notes on them after lunch. Knives and guns don't affect the rankings very much, but we must take them into consideration."

"Okay then," states Uriah, clapping his hands together, "now let's go and get lunch bec-."

"Because you're hungry, you're _always_ hungry," says Christina, getting out of her chair. We all walk over to the door, but I kiss Tobias once more before we get out. I didn't realise how much I missed doing this with him. I run my hands through his hair, deepening the kiss.

"Get a room," mutters Uriah, sighing. I smirk a bit.

"We have a room, this one," I remark, pulling away, to look at Uriah. "You just happen to be in it."

Uriah grumbles whilst Christina wolf whistles. I peck Tobias one last time on the lips and pull my arms from him. I flatten out his hair and he sorts out mine.

"Does it look like we've been kissing?"

"Nah," says Lynn. "You just look you've been working out and both your lips have swollen up. Perfectly normal."

I roll my eyes and distance myself from Tobias. The boys leave first and walk on ahead, and Lynn, Christina and I follow them after a minute or two.

"So how are you and Will doing?" Asks Lynn, huddling into us.

"Good, good. The romance isn't dying," she says, but I notice that she says it very casually, almost bored. I decide not to bring it up now. "What about you, Lynn?" Christina says, changing the topic. "Have you found your special guy?"

Lynn shuffles a bit obviously uncomfortable. "No, I haven't found anyone," she mumbles, actively avoiding the word 'guy'.

"I'm sure you'll find someone. There's somebody for everyone," I offer.

"Yeah, I agree with Tris on this one. Will once told me this Greek myth about love. According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Zeus feared our power when we were together so he separated everyone. So we are just searching for our other half."

"Will has rubbed off on you," chuckles Lynn.

"Were you even listening?" Christina accuses.

"Sure, if you want."

Christina groans and we head into the dining hall.

Peter and another boy, probably a bit older than him, are brawling on a table and people are betting on who will win, crowding around their feet to cheer each person on. Peter throws a sloppy punch at the boy, who grabs his fist and pushes it backwards. He looks slightly bored. Peter wrenches his hand out of the boy's grasp and kicks him in the knee, bringing the boy to the floor – or table, in this instance. The boy, whose name I think is Jon after listening to the screams from the audience, quickly jumps up, stabilising himself on a nearby supporter. Jon slaps Peter around the ear, which shocks him long enough for Jon to kick him in the stomach and then give a quick uppercut to Peter's jaw. Peter looks dazed, but then his eyes roll back into his head and he collapses, unconscious. He slides off the table onto the floor. Everyone cheers for Jon and start exchanging bet money. Jon, however, ignores all of it and just helps Peter to his feet with another mate and they begin to drag him to the infirmary. Most people disperse back to their normal jobs after this or sit back down at their table. Lynn starts whooping.

"That was an awesome fight," she yells, grinning, as we walk past the transfer table, where everyone looks shocked to see such an outburst. I snort.

"You get used to it," I tell them.

"Besides, you'll be doing that in a couple of days," says Christina, shrugging, and the transfers look even more horrified, which only furthers our glee. We walk over to our table, which most people know to leave empty to make sure they don't have to sit with us, and sit down. Only Uriah and Four have arrived, and they are tucking into a slice of cake each.

"Did you see that fight?" Uriah beams. "It was awesome."

"It sure was!" Lynn agrees, high fiving Uriah.

"Yeah, I'll give you that," says Christina, "but how did it start?"

"I think Peter challenged him. Made a bet or something," Four informs us.

I wouldn't be surprised if he chose to fight for entertainment as a job for when he wasn't doing the leadership programme. I can't deny that watching an idiot get beaten to a bloody pulp, is amusing. Because then I would be lying.

 _ **I haven't really finished this chapter but I just wanted to have something to upload this week. I planned on making this longer and having some stuff happen after lunch too, but I honestly couldn't be bothered. I've been really busy and I sprained my wrist today and was in a hospital for three hours so I've been a bit short on time. I haven't done the awful thing yet, but I know I want to get pretty far into initiation before I do it. Some people might be happy I'm doing it. I was actually going to do it next initiation, but I don't even know if I'll make it that far. -Flucy**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**Thanks for the reviews guys! Reviews are like a writer's drugs. Damn it I'm not promoting drugs. I have every aspect of this 'awful thing' I talk about so often planned right out and it also ties in very nicely to everything, not at all like I'm just doing this one chapter at a time. That wasn't meant to sound sarcastic. –Flucy**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters**_

 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

"Today, initiates, we will be working with guns," Four yells to the sixteen year olds trailing behind us as the instructors charge on ahead. The initiates all turned up on time, obviously not wanting a repeat of yesterday's events. We had finished marking and dismissed the initiates at around six o'clock last night, and had everyone ranked in time for dinner. From what I remember, Mekhi was first, multiple Dauntless-borns were taking up the next couple of ranks along with Jacob, who really seems to fit into Dauntless. Jacob reminds me of both Edward and Zeke combined. He has a side of Edward that makes him very serious, and I think his much weaker girlfriend followed him here, whilst he is also very cheerful, much like Zeke. Margot, Kate, Clark (a boy with a personality like Will but very different appearance) are all slotted safely into the middle of the ranks, with Kate and Mitch just a bit higher. Tia has secured herself into Dauntless, if we cut based on these rankings, though not too safe. Tiff is doing surprisingly well, for someone that looks like a bit of a ditz, but it's stereotypical of me to think like this about people. Nobody would guess that I came first in my initiation.

Uriah didn't turn up this morning. We waited for five minutes for him to turn up in the Pit, but he didn't arrive so we just left. Christina still hasn't figured out where she recognizes Margot from, and I still haven't learned the names of any Dauntless-borns. Four doesn't seem too fazed by any of this, although in fairness, he has done it before, but he is keeping a close eye on Mitch and his gang of cronies. I would be watching them as well, but I haven't exactly been paying attention to current affairs very well. And I still haven't asked Christina about her and Will.

Most of the dust has cleared away from the knives area, but we still leave tracks in the floor as we walk over to the guns table. I'm walking conspicuously close to Four and I graze my knuckles against his hand and flinch away, walking off to join Christina, who is lagging behind slightly.

"Seeing you trying to keep your hands off Four is actually hilarious," she whispers, and I elbow her in the ribs, making her jump back a little.

"Was that necessary?" She complains, rubbing the affected area.

"Yes," I state simply. "Yes, that was very necessary."

"Nice grammar."

"Thank you."

We reach the guns table and start to set up the guns, whilst Tobias goes through a few things.

"As I previously mentioned, today you will be working with guns." I pass Four a gun and he quietly thanks me. He takes the gun into one hand and fires three bullets into the target, all of them hitting the centre. The initiates are awe-struck. Mitch doesn't look impressed, however.

"Four, why do you always do the demonstrations?" Mitch asks, smirking. Christina and I walk over to Four's side upon hearing this with our eyebrows raised, Lynn close behind us. I hadn't noticed Lynn today, and I feel a guilty weight drop in my stomach. I don't even pay attention to my friends anymore.

"What makes you think you can ask?" He retorts, walking up to him.

"We have five instructors, one of them isn't here and the girls never do anything. Come one scar-face, show us what you got," he replies, not bothered by Four's close proximity or the breaths on his face. I don't know who he is referring to, until Four turns around to look at me. I sneer.

"Well, seen as you think you're so superior to us," I snap, snatching up a gun, walking towards the boy, "I think you should show us how it is done first." I thrust the gun into his fumbling hands and shove him towards the firing range. He immediately pales and slowly stumbles towards the targets.

"Today, initiate," Four reminds, causing Mitch to fall forward a bit and quicken his pace. Lynn scoffs. He shakes as he tries to get the gun as far away from him as possible. I stand and observe closely to put him off. He fires the gun and the rebound causes the gun to fly back into his face and he almost falls over, if it weren't for me shoving him forwards. The bullet missed the target.

"Great, you annoyed your attacker," I spit, pulling the gun out of his wavering grasp. I pass the gun to Lynn, and give another gun to Christina and I also pick up a gun, before we fire all of our bullets into the target in rapid succession. Lynn and Christina went for the centre of the target each time but I alternated between head shots, centre target and other fatal places, just to impress everyone, give the rest of the initiates the impression that I'm really tough. We turn back around and place our guns on the table, managing to do it in time, too.

Christina looks incredibly intimidating with her jaw set and steely eyes groping for any hint of doubt among the initiates. Lynn doesn't need to try especially hard to scare the living daylights out of them. None of the initiates have anything to say and Mitch has shrunk back into the safety of his minions. Some of the Dauntless-borns are stifling laughter and cheers. Mekhi is staring at me with a look on his face of just pure proudness. I don't know what he has to be proud of. It isn't like he owns me. I look away.

"Happy now?" I smile a grim simper and carry on setting up guns. Four continues with his demonstration until we finish. He yells at them all to get going and we make a little huddle. Uriah is still not here.

"What a pansycake, huh?" Christina says, giggling quietly.

"Uriah has rubbed off on you," Four complains, stifling laughter

"Speak of the devil."

We all turn to face the door and Uriah runs at us, pulling a shirt on over his bare chest. We were the only ones who had noticed his arrival until the door slammed behind him, creating a loud booming echo to reverberate around the room. Still shirtless, Uriah froze, cringing. All eyes on him, Uriah hesitated before clearing his throat and standing upright, almost as if nothing was strange about this occurence. Uriah takes off what little shirt he had on and grasps it tightly into a ball, furrowing it into a small clothed bundle. Some of the girls are staring at his abs, but he doesn't complain.

"Back to work everyone!" Uriah yells and walked towards us slowly, watching the initiates turning around and going back to their guns. When all of the initiates have turned away, he buries his head into his shirt and laughs, before slipping his black top on.

"Where were you?" Four asks, biting his lip, running a hand through his short hair. Uriah looks down.

"They needed me at the control room," he stutters, flushing a deep shade of crimson.

"He's lying," Christina points out. Uriah looks up at her and tilts his head to the side, before remembering that she was originally from Candor.

"And what would you be doing shirtless in the control room?" I grin, chuckling lightly. Lynn sniggers.

"Yeah, Uriah. What were you doing without your clothes on, alone in the control room?" Lynn teases, raising an eyebrow.

He opens his mouth but can't seem to form any words.

"I wouldn't have been alone if I was actually in the control room," he mumbles. "Zeke would've been there." His point doesn't really help his case.

"Where were you, Uriah?" says Four, putting on his stern face.

"I slept through my alarm," he reasons, looking at his feet.

"And why was that?"

"I got hammered last night at Zeke's. We were doing shots."

I roll my eyes. "You're as bad as the initiates," I mock, knowing the shame that he must be feeling. His eyes widen in alarm and Christina chortles.

"Relax, Uriah," she comforted, putting a hand on his shoulder, "you aren't that bad."

Uriah smiles a little.

"But still pretty bad."

Uriah smiles are broad smile, obviously jokingly fake. "Boy, am I glad to have friends as great as you!"

"You should be grateful," Lynn says, nodding modestly. Conversation quickly dies out and we decide to help out the initiates with their aim. Most of them seem to have the hand of it, but I correct several initiates' stance and aim, before realising Mitch is doing terrible. Hesitantly, I bite my lip and stride towards him. I can tell he's seen me in his peripheral vision by the uncomfortably shuffling of his feet. I come and watch for a moment, studying everything about him. He has awful aim and his feet are too close together.

"Mitch."

He doesn't look at me.

"Mitch, look at me."

He smiles smugly. "But, Six, I don't want to. That hideous face of yours offends me." Everyone stops what they're doing and listen in. Four starts to walk towards me but Christina holds him back. I grin a little.

"What? What's so funny?" Mitch asks, slightly panicked. I hadn't realised I was still smiling. I better find a cover story and fast. It's a good thing Mitch is Erudite and can't tell when I'm lying.

"You."

"Wait, what about me is so funny?"

"Oh, just your insolence, your idiocy, your obliviousness." I get really close to his face, to put him off. I hate being this cruel. It isn't like me at all. But I'm not me, I'm Six, cruel Dauntless instructor with a passion of being rude and disrespectful. I pull my hand back and smack him around the back of the ear. He looks startled and stumbles around for a bit before rubbing his head.

"Oblivious to what?" He mutters.

I chuckle sadistically. "Oblivious to the pain I'm willing to inflict upon you. Now get back to work!"

The initiates turn back to their own targets and I go over to Uriah who is fiddling with a loose thread on his shirt, grinning. He sees me and jogs over to me, smacking me on the back.

"Nice on you, Six."

"Thanks.

"People are still staring at you and not working," he points out, nodding to over my shoulder. I shrug.

"I know. They better get used to me being tougher than I look, and if them staring will make it happen, that's fine by me."

This time its Uriah's turn to shrug, before he jogs over to an initiate asking for help. I slowly turn around to face the targets again, taking my time with every action. Instead of helping, I just watch. The majority of them are alright with the guns, Mekhi excelling along with a girl next to him, I think is called Janet. Only a couple of them are truly awful, like Tia and another skinny Dauntless-born boy who quakes with fear everyone time a shot rings out. I don't know how long I watch them for, but after a while, Four yells out for our lunch break and everyone disperses. Lynn, Christina, Uriah, Four and I meet at the table we sat at yesterday and decide to organise some events, planning out our timetables more.

"So tomorrow is the first day of fighting," Four states, still in instructor mode, addressing us all with a stern tone. "We won't do fights on the first day, perhaps the second day, although we, us trainers, will spar on the first day to show them how it's done."

"I call dibs on battering Lynn!" Calls out Uriah instantly, making Lynn roll her eyes and Christina laugh. I snicker a bit too.

"Well," I add, "why don't we let the initiates choose who fights who so we don't have a repeat of today's events."

"Ooh, I like that idea," Christina comments, rapidly nodding her head in approval.

"Then let's do that."

"When are we going to do capture the flag?" Uriah blurts out into the silence, and we all look at him. He raises a good point.

"Can we do it tomorrow night?" Lynn asks us all, though mainly Four. He still has authority over all of us, in our eyes.

"I see no harm in doing that," smiles Tobias, biting his lip to keep his grin from spreading further, his instructor instincts fading a little. I weakly smile, rubbing his arm affectionately. He looks at me and returns the gesture.

"Well, you know where I'm going to be," concludes Uriah, clapping his hands together and winking at us. He gets up and pushes his chair under the table.

"Anyone coming?"

"Me."

"Me too."

I look to Tobias then back at the two girls and Uriah who are now stood up. "I think we're going to catch up later," I admit and Tobias hums in agreement.

Christina winks and together they stroll off, but Christina stops and turns around at the door. "Don't forget to use protection!" She yells at us, and both Tobias and I flush a shade of scarlet. Lynn and Uriah laugh and they run out of the room. I bury my head in Four's collarbone and he runs a hand through my hair before I start to chuckle. He sighs and puts his face into my shoulder, breathing in my scent. I pull away and press my lips to his, running my hand up his spine to his hair, tugging my fingertips through his shortly cropped hair. I feel him shiver under my touch and I deepen the kiss. His hand works its way to my waist and I tremble a bit, before pushing my fear, which I'm yet to conquer, away. He tugs me onto his lap and I straddle him on the table, still kissing him, letting his tongue explore my mouth. Suddenly, I open my eyes and pull away too quickly and Tobias's eyes widen in horror.

"What have I done? I'm sorry if I-."

I briefly kiss Tobias on the lips again to shut him up, and it works, though he still looks worried. I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing but it doesn't work and I let out a happy pant of amusement.

"You didn't do anything wrong," I reassure him. I roll off his legs and hop off the table, still leaning on his chest. I sling my arm around his neck and place my other hand on his chest.

"Then why did you pull away so suddenly?" Tobias whispers, voice thick with hurt, his head bowed and lips grazing mine with every word. I giggle and then jump back again, turning in the air and walking away. I just get a glimpse of a distraught Tobias and him leaping off the table to catch up with me.

"Because I'm hungry!" I exclaim, my arms gesturing to the heavens, not looking back and still walking towards the door. I throw my head over my shoulder and see Tobias's incredulous expression, raised eyebrows, jaw dropped.

"You can't be serious right now," he mutters, running up to me.

"Oh I never joke about food."

I catch a look at myself in the reflection of the training room window and see a dust tainted girl staring back at me. I fix my hair and straighten my shirt, Tobias next to me doing the same.

From there, we walk to the dining hall in a comfortable silence.

 _ **\- Review how you want me to future PAGEBREAK -**_

Most people are already tucking into their meal by the time we arrive, lips swollen, hair messed up. It's times like these I am glad to have short hair; most people can't tell when you've actually done your hair or not. We slide into our seats. I sit next to Four and Christina, opposite is Lynn and Zeke is in front of Four, all of them eating burgers.

"So, Zeke," Four starts, gaining the attention of the older Pedrad, "we were wondering if you wanted to join us on our game of capture the flag tomorrow night?"

By the time Four has got all the words out of his mouth, Zeke already has a huge grin stretching the width of his face, teeth gleaming in the dull light. "Hell yes, dude!" He shouts, completely forgetting we are instructors. Most of the initiates stop what they are doing to look at us in confusion. He raises his hand for a high five, and without thinking, I whoop and smack my hand against his, earning a glare from Four. I pull a face at him and roll my eyes, shrinking back into the bench. I have a good feeling about this.

 _ **I could have gone on and on and on but I just needed to upload something because I haven't written in a while, I just applied for a paper round and my birthday was yesterday so I've been abnormally busy but to compensate:**_

 _ **I wanted to know your opinion on me starting a new fanfiction about the Divergent characters in a modern day, high school scenario. I know that it is totally overused and could be awful, but a lot of these fanfics are based in America, so I'm putting mine in a very typical British boarding/high school and wanted your thoughts sooooooo yeah.**_

 _ **REVIEW WHETHER I SHOULD DO A HIGH SCHOOL OR BOARDING SCHOOL PLEASE!**_

 _ **LEMME KNOW!**_

 _ **-Flucy**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**I'm actually writing this straight after uploading. I don't know whether or not I will start this new fanfiction, because I really want to, and it might broaden my audience a bit as well, and a bit of publicity is never bad, right?**_

 _ **What is your opinion on me swearing in this fanfic because if you have ever met me, I swear a lot so please tell me! –Flucy**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters.**_

 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

This morning, I am woken up by roommate and good friend Christina tipping an icy bucket of cold water over my head. I bolt upright at the first touch of liquid and sit in shock of what just happened, gaping at the instigator of what could be another prank war. I check the time. It's five o'clock in the morning and I'm already sat in soggy pyjamas with a giggling idiot kneeling on the foot of my bed. I let out a couple of laughs, before glaring at Christina. It was quite funny. But I now need to do something equally as awful to her.

"I like how you've done your hair today, Tris," chuckles Christina, tossing the metal bucket she used onto the floor.

"Thank you."

"I was being sarcastic."

"I know, stupid. Where did you get a bucket from in the compound anyway?" I ask, genuinely curious.

She shrugs. "You'd be surprised at what Uriah keeps in his apartment." It seems like a plausible reason until you notice that Christina must be spending more time with another boy than with her boyfriend. I raise an eyebrow.

"What?" Christina asks, still smiling.

"How are you and Will?" I blurt out all of a sudden, demandingly.

Her smile fades a little but there are still the remnants of a good time playing at her lips. "I don't really know," she resolves, looking at the floor, "I mean, I still really like him of course, but he seems too proactive in his work to have any time to spend with me. I get that he is a Dauntless surgeon and all but if he could spare a bit more time, I'd be happy."

I nod. Due to Will's previous medical experience in Erudite, he was assigned to be a surgeon for severe incidents that need attention immediately, so he works whilst they wait for better trained doctors to come in from Erudite. Unfortunately for Will, that means a lot of late nights waiting and stressful situations trying to save lives, which results in Christina being alone. I frown. I can't believe I didn't notice.

"I understand. Feel free to just come and find me and drag me home, if I'm ever out, and you need someone to talk to." Perhaps not the most comforting thing I could have said. "I'd much rather spend girly time with you than socialise with other people."

Christina chuckles lightly, then looks at me and bursts our laughing, rolling around on the bed. I smile a little, but I'm still confused.

"What's so funny?" I ask, shoving Christina on the shoulder.

"I get that you're trying to be nice and serious and all," she sputters, giggling, "but it's really hard to take you seriously when you're drenched in water. I roll my eyes.

"Shove off, Chris," I say, which earns me a glare.

"Ahem. It's Chris _tina_ , may I remind you. We wouldn't want a repeat of this morning, tomorrow, would we?"

"No, mother."

We stay talking for what seems like hours. When I check the time, it actually has been hours, and I leap out of bed. I now have 15 minutes to get dressed, look presentable and get to the Pit. Christina snickers when she sees my panicked expression.

"This was all part of my plan," she sings gleefully, skipping off. I hear the front door slam behind her. I jump up and run to my wardrobe, throwing on whatever I pick up. I end up wearing some black, easy to move in jeggings and a black tank top. I grab a tube of mascara and my key, ruffle my still soggy hair and charge out the door, locking the door as fast as possible behind me. I run down the halls, shoving my key into my pocket, water running down the nape of my neck and check my watch; 7:05. I'm five minutes late already and I'm nowhere near the Pit yet. I bet Four will have something to say about this.

By the time I arrive at the Pit, my hair is already messed up again, I'm out of breath and the lesson has already started. I try to quietly open the door, but apparently that wasn't going to happen, because when I enter, everyone turns around to look at me, initiates and instructors. Four raises his eyebrows at me, his instructor mode already settled in, Christina snorts, chuckling away and Lynn and Uriah grin.

"Where were you, Six?" Uriah chirps. If you didn't know him, you'd have thought he was trying to be intimidating, but the look in his eyes says otherwise.

"Ask Christina," I mutter, parting the crowd of initiates and making my way to the front of the group, standing in between Four and Lynn. I smile sweetly at Christina and she tells me to shut up. Four clears his throat.

"As I was saying, before I was interrupted," he says, clearly talking about my arrival, "today, you will be choosing which of us will fight. Or spar, rather."

The transfers' eyes widen with excitement and start whispering amongst each other. I don't doubt that they will want to see me and Tobias fight, and due to the fact that there are five of us, one of us will have to fight twice, and I am slightly hoping that it is me, so I can prove them all wrong, get rid of all the false beliefs about me.

"Decide amongst yourselves who will fight who whilst we walk to the training room," Lynn announces, and we all form into a little huddle, whilst the initiates yell things behind us.

"Care to explain, Tris?" Asks Tobias, a small smile gracing his lips.

"Care to explain, Christina?" I retort, turning my attention to the tall girl on my right. She shakes her head.

"You know, I'd rather not, actually."

"Oh, shut up, _Chris_ ," I tease, earning me a punch on the shoulder.

I decide to explain, not risking another bruise. "Well, this morning, my dear buddy Christina here thought it would be a good idea to wake me up by tipping a cold bucket of water on my head, and then distracted me with her incessant talking, as part of her plan, until I was late."

"You should be more grateful I woke you up. I turned your alarm clock off. That's why you got so distracted. If your clock had gone off, you'd have gotten ready on time."

Uriah beams. "Very clever!"

Christina grins. "Thank you. I know I am."

I roll my eyes and fake cough absurdly. "Bitch." More fake coughing. I get another thump on the arm. I hope I get to fight Christina as payback for this morning.

We arrive at the training room in good time and make a beeline for the ring and stand in it, waiting for the initiates to catch up with us, so we can find out who will be fighting whom. When they arrive, Mekhi steps up.

"We would like to see Uriah fight Lynn." Uriah whoops, interrupting Mekhi, who laughs. "We'd also like to see Christina fight Six, and Six fight Four."

A sly grin sneaks onto my face and I share a glance with Four, who looks slightly concerned, but masks it well with a sturdy look of confidence.

"Okay," I say. "Let's do the fights in that order. First up, Uriah and Lynn."

 **(A/N I know nothing about fighting. I did some research, but not enough.)**

Uriah holds his hand out to Lynn in a gentlemanly like way and leads her into the middle of the ring, whilst Christina, Tobias and I leave the arena. Uriah and Lynn start to spar, actively avoiding hitting each other with force. Technically, it is still a fight, but with only less force put into each punch. As soon as the fight starts, Lynn jabs Uriah in the temple, which dazes him for only a few seconds before Lynn shoves her foot into his gut. Unfortunately for Lynn, the jab to his head did not stall Uriah for long enough, and Uriah grabs her ankle and spins her over, tipping her onto the floor. Uriah hops back, giving Lynn space to get back up. She grunts and gets back onto her feet, regaining her balance and stance before Uriah kicks her in the knees, and Lynn falls back to the ground with a groan. Lynn rolls over, her body facing the audience, her back to Uriah. She grins naughtily and puts her finger to her lips, in a way to shush us all. Christina finds it hard to control her contempt, so I stomp on her foot. She quickly shuts up, after jabbing me in the side first.

"I concede, Uriah, now help me up," Lynn moans, trying to hide her cheeky grin. Uriah, being a good sport, walks over to help her, but just as he reaches her, Lynn quickly rolls over, and throws Uriah over her body by his shins. Uriah lands with an 'oof' and he chuckles. Lynn pulls Uriah to his feet and they leave the ring, Uriah bowing on his way out. I roll my eyes. Only Uriah.

Lynn stops to say something. "That round demonstrated tactics that weaker initiates can use. Of course, that was not the method of tactics that Four wanted me to show," she adds, warily glancing at the scowling Four. I elbow him and he lightens up a bit. "Never pretend to be weak, or knocked unconscious during these training fights. That is cowardice."

The initiates nod. Some of them seem really riled up about fighting, whilst the others, like Tia, who we've decided is this year's Myra and just followed the nice kid, who we think is her boyfriend, Edward, look terrified, dreading every second of the violence. Mekhi, Janet and Jamie all look excited, grinning and exchanging looks of eagerness.

"Next up, Six versus Christina."

I walk into the ring with Christina. I might not have been able to beat her when we were initiating, but I've now had a lot more training than her, one-on-one with a Dauntless prodigy as an instructor. Somehow, I think I have a pretty good chance. I ready myself, fists raised, one arm blocking my face and the other closer to my stomach. Christina's arms are too far up, and she has left her chest exposed. She also has her thumbs tucked into her fists. As soon as she hits me, she'll break her thumbs. I better make sure she misses every time.

I start to hop from one foot to the other, for faster movement, and as soon as I hear someone to tell us to begin, I throw a fast uppercut to Christina's gut. She stumbles back a bit, but not for long. She aims for my head, but I block then bob and weave under her arm, lashing out with the back of my hand. I hit her chest, but not hard enough to hurt her. I twist round until I have her in a headlock and my knee is pressed to her spine, so she awkwardly contorts her back, as to not hurt herself. I press my lips to her ear.

"This is for this morning," I grin. I can sense her paling slightly. I pull back and quickly shove her away with my foot. I don't think she knows what to do. Everything she has tried so far has backfired miraculously. I gesture for her to come at me.

"Hit me with your best shot," I sing, to the tune of Pat Benatar's song.

"You know that song?"

"I have good taste."

I lunge at Christina, thrusting my fist into her jaw. She grunts and holds up her hands in submission.

"No more, no more. Please," she pleads. I walk up to her tauntingly.

"Beg for mercy," I whisper, cracking my knuckles.

"Stop, stop, please stop. I'm sorry for this morning," she apologises, genuinely scared. I push her head gently and laugh, forgetting that we have a crowd watching us.

"Gee, go easy on her, _Six_ ," I hear someone say from the door to the training room. Everyone turns and faces the voice.

"Why are you here, Zeke?" Four mutters, rolling his eyes.

"I heard a beautiful maiden singing and got curious," he says, imitating a cheesy prince, like one from a film. Everyone snickers at this.

"Uriah, go deal with him," Lynn says, shoving Uriah towards his older brother. Uriah staggers a bit and looks startled.

He scratches the back of his neck. "Yeah, no, not happening."

"What? Why?"

"Because, trust me, I know him well enough to know that he isn't buggering off any time soon," Uriah chuckles. We all seem to have lost our façade that we are supposed to be using whenever we're around the initiates. They don't seem to mind, but I hope they know that this camaraderie won't be extended to favouritism.

"Damn straight, little bro!" Uriah rolls his eyes.

"Next up, Four and Six."

Zeke looks shocked. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah. This time, the initiates decided who would fight, as to get rid of any judgements about us."

Zeke nods. "I'm getting popcorn." Zeke scampers off.

"Has he actually gone to-," asks Christina, but is cut off by Uriah.

"Undoubtedly."

I snigger, and then turn to the initiates. "What do you think the point of seeing us fight is?"

They hesitate, but then somebody steps forward.

"So we can see fighting methods applied, study them, then develop our own tactics that suit us best," Kate says, but it comes out as more as a question than anything. I've noticed that Kate has a different, pretty odd, style. She's very forward, brave, but I also see myself in her. Her daringness, things like that. Honestly, I wouldn't doubt it if she did something stupid like me.

"Good. Despite us not having taught you anything, watching us fight is useful, regardless of your previous experience," Lynn says, walking up to me and Four, Christina and Uriah in tow.

Four hums in agreement. "Now what did you learn from Lynn and Uriah's fight?"

Nobody replies.

"Nothing, apparently," Uriah grumbles.

"Okay then. What did you learn from Six and Christina's fight?"

"We learned that Six can be a feisty little girl!" Mekhi yells, making everyone but the instructors laugh. We all have unamused expressions, especially me. He must think that we're friends. Big mistake. I step out of the ring and begin to walk over to Mekhi, who's paled rather drastically after seeing our unimpressed faces. I hear him mutter curses under his breath.

"Now, Mekhi," I start, "what makes you think you can talk about me like that?" I am now right in his face. He is towering over me, which makes me less intimidating, but I don't think being taller really helps his case.

He gulps. "I-I don't know."

"Good," I whisper. I would probably have said more if Zeke hadn't bounded through the door at that particular moment, clutching a bag of popcorn. I raise my eyebrows at him and he throws a piece into the air and catches it in his mouth. I head back to the ring, Four trailing behind me. Zeke offers some popcorn to the other instructors who watch in anticipation of the fight between the prodigies. I bite my lip, eager to see the outcome of this spar, but also in a nervous trepidation. This is just sparring, I remind myself. Just sparring with my boyfriend. Like every other regular couple does. Sure.

I compose myself. I get into the stance Four taught me and raise my fists. In some ways, this is good. I know everything that Four would try on me, because he was the one that showed me how to fight, but he also knows how I fight. I know I don't have a chance, but I'd like to at least put up a good fight. Four scans my body for any sign of exposed weakness, but by the look on his face, I can tell that I have prepared my body well for this fight. I bounce on my toes in skittish anxiety but also in readiness for a good battle.

As soon as Zeke tells us to begin, Four strikes at me, knowing my tactic is to get the first blow in. He hits me in the stomach, not all that well, thanks to my guarded stance, but still good enough to cause my to trip back a bit. Zeke boos and hisses, as if in a pantomime, and throws a piece of popcorn at the back of Four's head, which causes him to turn around in confusion. With his back turned to me, I take the opportunity to jump on his back. I propel myself at him, cling to the back of his neck, wrapping my legs around his waist, just above his hipbone, and then lean backwards. Four stumbles around blindly for a few seconds, then falls onto his backside, and I only just manage to leap off him before he crashes to the ground with a thud. I dance around him teasingly and he jumps quickly to his feet. I don't give him a chance to get ready; he doesn't need a chance. If I gave him time, he'd only use it against me, so I kick him in the chest. Or I _would've_ kicked him in the chest, if he hadn't have grabbed my ankle and twisted me onto my back, pushing me to the ground with a crash. The few seconds I let slip away were my biggest mistake

"Damn it, Four," I mutter, rolling away from him and getting back to my feet. Unlike me, he gives me a chance to get back up. I know I can't win, but that doesn't mean I _can't_ put up a good fight. Part of me still wonders what the point in trying to win is, but something inside me is egging me to go on.

I feign a blow to Four's head, and as he tries to block what would have been a very sloppy hit, I use the momentum I still have to thrust my knee into his stomach and elbow him in the head. He falls down again.

"When did you get so good, Six?"

"Trained by the best," I smirk. Four beams and I decide to bust his bubble. I smirk. "Thanks, _Zeke_."

Four looks horrified whilst Zeke just cheers, and as I pull him onto his feet, I say "just kidding. Relax, dude."

I look over at the initiates, and I'm happy to see surprised expressions. Mitch is trying his best to look bored, but it comes off as a more disgruntled kind of ugly. He tugs Tiff into the side of his body, who also looks a fake kind of uninterested. Either they are dating, or they are just closer than Molly and Peter ever were. They could be siblings though. The Dauntless-borns just look like they've seen a good fight, rather than a small girl do so well against a much bigger man. I guess after living in Dauntless their whole lives, they understand that girls are equal to boys, and gender means nothing. Size, on the other hand, is another story.

Others, like Clark, Margot, Kate or Jacob, don't even try to hide their grins, and although their expectations must have been so low of me for them to be so drastically surprised, somehow, I really don't care.

I beckon Lynn, Christina and Uriah over, and when Zeke begins to follow them, I give him the finger. He pulls a puppy dog face.

"Thanks for the entertainment!" He yells, as he exits the training room.

"That," Uriah says, almost proudly, to the initiates, "was someone you will be seeing a lot more of, in Dauntless. That is, if you make it in."

I hear a few initiates gulp, obviously loudly, considering I can hear them through my sluggish and tired breaths. I'm glad I don't feel faint now. That would be embarrassing.

"Right, well, we'll show you a few moves now, and when we think we have all covered the basics, you can have lunch, then you'll get back here, on time, may I add, and see how well you were paying attention," Lynn says, picking a piece of popcorn out of her teeth. The initiates nod, some of them still quite awed by what someone with a figure like mine can do. Lynn, Christina and Uriah all walk off with the Dauntless-borns plodding behind them. Christina shouts something, and they all hurry up a little bit. I turn back to Four, and then to the initiates.

"We won't be doing anything too… strenuous," Four says, biting his lip.

"We'll be showing correct stance, a few basic moves, and then we'll walk around and help you individually when you try out each punch and kick on the bags later," I fill in, walking over to the closest punching bag. I begin to demonstrate a few moves whilst Tobias explains each detail to them. Soon enough, Uriah whistles at us and throws his head towards the door, and we dismiss the transfers for lunch.

"We'll be pairing you up for tomorrow's fights, so work hard and remember everything we said," Four warns, raising his voice so the chattering initiates can hear him. They all file out and head towards the dining hall, and instead of hanging about in the training room for a while, we follow them. Some of these initiates I'd like to get to know eventually, like Clark or Jacob, Kate or Margot.

"I'm surprised that pansycake Mitch didn't have anything to say to you about your fight," says Uriah, jogging up to me and Tobias. I shrug.

"Maybe he's learning his lesson," I justify casually. I couldn't really care less about what ignorant fools like him think of me. I wouldn't put it past him to get along with Peter. If they ever were introduced to each other, they'd be as thick as thieves almost instantly.

"What about your fight with Lynn?" Christina asks, "because that fail was awful, and if Zeke had seen that, you'd never hear the end of it."

Uriah sighs. "Yeah, I'm glad you guys didn't tell him, otherwise I'd be ruined."

I share a glance with Lynn, and she has the same sneaky look in her eyes as I'm sure is in my own.

"Well," Lynn begins, holding out a finger to Uriah, "A, why is losing to me so shameful, and B, why are you so sure we wouldn't tell Zeke?"

Uriah pales. "I'd kill you if you did."

Tobias snorts unintelligibly. "What, like you killed her in that fabulous fight of yours? Y'know, I know Zeke very well, and I wouldn't want to withhold information from him, especially not about his goofy little brother," Tobias taunts, and evil glint in his eye. Uriah buries his face in his hands.

"What have I done?" He exclaims dramatically.

"You haven't done anything. Yet. But now we can blackmail you to do anything we want," I point out.

"You could've just gotten me drunk," Uriah yells, chortling, and the initiates turn round in confusion. I wave them off, because I can't get out any words from laughing too hard.

"Calm down, _Six_ ," Tobias instructs, reminding me of my position as an instructor. I take a few exaggerated deep breaths, not breaking eye contact with him.

"Careful, Tris," he warns me, as we push open the door into the dining hall. Lynn heads of to sit at another table, and Zeke pats the seat next to him but instead she sits next to Marlene, so close that their shoulders are touching. Uriah, Christina, Tobias and I all go to sit next to the transfers. Christina sits opposite Margot, examining her face. She still doesn't know how she recognises her, but she also can't let on that she was a Candor transfer when she does figure out who she is, unless she wants people to think she is another weak transfer, even when she clearly isn't.

When Jacob edges away from me when I sit down next to him, I think I've scared them enough for them to think me as very strong. Tobias sits unnervingly close to Mitch, who is hitting on Tiff, appallingly, as well. Nope, not related. Uriah daintily hops into the seat next to Kate and snatches a roll off her plate when she turns her head. He bites into it and holds his hands up in surrender when she glowers at him.

"So how are you pansycakes enjoying Dauntless?" Christina asks, picking a crumb of cake off my plate and popping it into her mouth.

"Pansycake?" Asks a boy I've identified as Charlie, an Erudite transfer.

"It's Dauntless slang," Tobias explains, "but nobody uses it anymore."

"Oh. Dauntless is so much better than Erudite," Jacob replied, "but playing Candor or Dauntless with a bunch of stupid Noses was hilarious." Jacob beams, probably reminiscing over some funny times. Kate says something to him and they high five over the table.

I pinch my lips together. "Make sure you don't miss Erudite too much."

Jacob hesitates then nods. Kate stares down at her plate sheepishly.

"Way to make things awkward Tr-six." Uriah almost blew my cover. I flinch as I hear my almost name and all of us glare at Uriah. Uriah mutters expletives under his breaths. "Whoops."

" _Tr-six_?" Kate asks, her eyebrows raised, using a condescending tone that would only be used with close friends. I shoot her a patronising look that tells her to stop.

"What makes you think you can talk to me like that?" I snap, and Kate cringes, turning back to her other Charlie. Edward's eyes widen in comical fear.

"I thought your real name actually was Six," He tells himself, shaking his head.

"I'd have preferred it to stay that way," I admit, licking my finger free of chocolate frosting. Tobias looks into my eyes and smiles weakly, as he too pops some cake into his mouth. "But _somebody_ , messed that up for me, didn't they?" I add, pointedly staring at Uriah, who has shrunk into Kate's shoulder. Upon seeing Uriah's head on her arm she chuckles a bit before shoving him off.

"Well it's not my fault!" Uriah protests, his arms flailing. Even Tobias chuckles, and he is the one that hasn't said anything during our time at the table.

"Well it is."

"Oh, shut up Tr-," I don't give Uriah a chance to finish because I've already slapped him around the face. I hit him far too hard, or at least too loudly, because even Four looks taken aback, and everyone stares at me. The smack was too loud for my likings, and I'd have favoured it if perhaps only a few of us heard it, not everyone. Uriah now has a rather prominent red hand spanning his cheek, and by his gaping mouth and shocked expression, I worry for a second that he will hate me. That is, until, he bursts out laughing.

Somebody comes up behind me and shoves me back into my seat. I hadn't even realised I had gotten out of my chair. This person clamps their hands around my shoulders and has captured the attention of everyone at the table, and everyone is watching him. Except me. I still don't know who this person is. They have very large hands, but that information is useless.

"Not picking fights on my little bro, like last year, are we?" A familiar voice says, and I relax. "Because if you were, I'm sure Four and I would gladly beat you up in return."

I find it hard to find Zeke threatening, especially when he is trying to turn my own boyfriend on me. I bite my lip, trying to keep a straight face.

"Y'know, for some reason, that doesn't seem very probable. You and Four fighting me, not me picking on Uriah, because we both know that is going to happen anyway, regardless of what you say," I counter, twisting out of his grip so I can face him.

"How come?"

"I think you know why."

"What?" Zeke says, his forehead creased in confusion. A wave of realisation hits him when he remembers that we are dating, just trying not to broadcast it to all of the initiates that don't already know about our relationship. "Oh. _Ohhhhh_. That makes sense. I'll get Lynn to help then. Maybe Christina too."

I smirk. "What, because you can't hurt me on my own?"

"Good banter, _Six_ ," Uriah chimes in, "but please, stop fighting over me. I get how you both want me so much that you are always vying for my attention, but this really isn't necessary ."

Zeke and I both flip our heads towards Uriah and glare at him.

"Let's beat Uriah up together."

"Yeah."

"Good idea."

Everyone chuckles a bit, but Kate doesn't look away at the obvious end of conversation. She seems to be challenging her elders at every opportunity, and I should probably warn her that doing that is not a good technique. I would know; it didn't work out for me. _Careful, Tris_.

"How come Zeke and Four wouldn't dare fight you?" Kate asks, staring me dead in the eye.

"What makes you think you can ask your superiors questions like that?" I spit, my smile dropping from my face.

"You seem like an easy enough person to relate to," she replies, not breaking eye contact. This girl is a past version of me. "Y'know, like a pack of hungry wolves."

I would have said something equally as witty and sharp as her if I were given a chance, but Four gets there first.

"Careful, Kate."

 _ **P-p-p-p-p-p-pick up a pagebreak!**_

 _ **I just decided I am not going to continue this chapter, despite the fabulous pagebreak. I just haven't been writing as much, but don't worry, I'm not stopping, and I know I said I'd be writing a new fic but I withdraw any promises I made. I have some matters to attend to first.**_

 _ **It must seem odd that this chapter was so jokey, but it was getting a bit tedious, writing so seriously so I was just like: BAM! Zeke. Zeke is practically the physical embodiment of drugs in this fic.**_

 _ **OH. And by the way, I'm rather against fics that steal phrases and conversations from the book (like if I had a Candor say everything Chris said and just be like DÉJÀ VU BITCHES), so I know saying 'careful, Kate', was risky, but Kate is playing an important role in this story.**_

 _ **-Flucy**_

 _ **Namaste bitches.**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**I'm going to try and write this all in one sitting. I know it won't work but it's worth a shot, right? I'm ill today so I'm home alone and have just decided to write. I hope you don't mind if I swear in this fic. I'm writing about a bunch of seventeen year olds, what did you expect?**_

 _ **NOTE: I just realised that I made it so Chris and Tris weren't roomies, but now they are.–Flucy**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters.**_

 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

I wake up to Tobias rubbing my shoulder and whispering to me. I sleep here more than at my own apartment, though with everything going on with Christina and Will, I think leaving might not be a great help for her, and that wouldn't be fair after all she has ever done for me. The last thing she needs is to be alone.

"C'mon, it's capture the flag tonight."

I groan and hit something soft, as if hitting my fist on an alarm clock. Tobias laughs and I bury my face in my pillow, curling into a ball.

"Get up, Tris," he says, unfurrowing the duvet slightly, and I only pull it tighter into myself.

"No," I complain drowsily, eyes still closed. I hear Tobias sigh behind me.

"I hate doing this," he mutters to himself, before ripping the duvet off me, exposing my body to cold midnight air. I yelp but don't get out of bed, and I just lay on the mattress in my pyjama shorts and black vest top. Tobias moans and scoops me up in his arms, despite my protest. He throws me over his shoulder, like one might with a jumper. I hammer my fists on his back, my eyes now wide open.

"Put me down," I chirp, but Tobias only laughs at me. "Put me down!" I demand, and Tobias slips me further down his back so that he is holding my ankles and my face is hovering about a foot from the floor.

"If I dropped you now," Tobias taunts, "you'd break your face."

I snort. "Way to put it bluntly, Tobias, but you wouldn't dare."

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, Tobias quickly bends his knees, lowering me down further, and my nose briefly skims the wooden floorboards before he jumps back upwards, making my face slam into the back of his calf.

"Wouldn't I dare?" Tobias murmurs, twisting his neck over his shoulder to face me. "Shall we test that theory?" He adds with a sly grin. My eyes widen in alarm and I roll forwards out of his grasp before leaping to my feet on the other side of the room. Tobias laughs.

"No," I pant, "let's not test that theory." I keep an eye on Tobias at all times as I pick out some loose fitting clothes to wear. I end up wearing one of Tobias's smaller jumpers and some plain black leggings with some black denim shorts over the top. Tobias is still stood where I left him, which is definitely reassuring, but his cheeky grin is somewhat off putting.

"Why are you smiling?" I ask, buckling up a pair of black combat boots.

"Am I not allowed to?"

"No."

I slip a silver watch on with a glow in the dark face and run a hand through my hair. This very short style was only put in place recently, but when I first cut it from waist length to shoulder length, Christina was furious, and when she was at home, ill, I got a dare to get more cut off. There weren't even words to describe Christina's anger. When she finally got over it though, she said it was nicer than it was when it was long. I think she might actually move out if I shaved my head like Lynn's hair, however.

"I'm just excited to kick Uriah's ass," he eventually concludes. "That is, if we are on different teams this time," he mentions. I furrow my brow.

"Are you not picking the teams this time?"

"No, the initiates are voting on other initiates to be captains, and they choose the teams, and then choose us," Tobias clears up, smoothing a hand down his shirt. I check my watch; it's midnight in about half an hour, and that's when the train arrives. I lie back on the mattress and rest my head on the pillow. Tobias walks over and sits next to me, hugging his knees into his chest. He takes my hand in his and rubs soothing circles on his hand.

"No fainting this time either, please," he instructs light heartedly, but I can see the concern in his eyes. I hesitantly nod, and he raises an eyebrow, and that says enough.

"It's not like I do it on purpose," I say, taking interest in my knees. He lifts my chin with two fingers.

"I know. You might just have anaemia," he explains. The placid look on my face makes him laugh. "You might just have low iron in your body," he furthers. "Low energy, light headedness, et cetera."

I roll my eyes. "Please shut up." He flinches. "You're making me rather depressed. Low energy? What am I supposed to do? This is Dauntless." This could be really awful. He just shrugs.

"I don't know, Tris, I'm just suggesting," he pauses for a moment, "we better get going. Christina is getting the Dauntless-borns, we'll be getting the transfers."

 _ **Panic! At The Pagebreak (totes best band)**_

"Get up! Get up! Get up!" I yell at the top off my lungs, flipping the lights on and off. The transfers all shield their eyes from the harsh light and grumble about how they aren't late or how their alarm didn't go off.

"Shut up!" Four bellows, and everyone silences. "Meet us at the train in five minutes." We stalk out of the transfer rooms as fast as possible, mainly to avoid the groggy shouting of a bunch of teenagers but also to avoid the risk of seeing them get changed.

As we turn down the corridor at the end of the dormitory hallway, we bump into Christina, who looks uncannily like somebody awoken from the grave; her lips and face pale, deep aubergine bags grabbing at the lower lid of her eyes and her hair untidily put into a messy bun. I share a glance with Tobias and he nods subtly.

"I'm going to go get Zeke," he lies. He knows Zeke would never miss out on a game of capture the flag and that he doesn't need to wake him up to make sure he's there. I wouldn't be all that shocked if he was already on the train waiting for us. He's a Pedrad, after all – absolutely ridiculous. Tobias turns around and starts to head back in the other direction, probably going the long way to the tracks. Christina stops and waits and I speed up a little so I can regroup with her. She doesn't reciprocate my greeting when I smile and say my hellos, she barely looks at me.

"Hey," I smile softly, putting a hand lightly on her shoulder. She smiles weakly back at me but shakes the hand off her shoulder. We never learned about comforting other people when they were upset in Abnegation. We were told to do it, just not how. It was selfish to be upset when other people's lives are worse than your own. Considering it now, Abnegation really restricted your emotions. We walk in silence for a bit, thinking, before deciding to try again.

"So are you going to tell me the problem?" I ask quietly, looking Christina right in the eye. She shakes her head.

"I'd prefer not," she whimpers, tears threatening to spill over the edges. "Please don't make me talk about it." And I don't because if I were her, I wouldn't want to either. I give her hand a reassuring squeeze before we continue to walk in comfortable silence to the trains. You can hear the echoes of our feet when you try to, and I do, because I don't want to draw attention to the fact that I can hear Christina crying beside me. I really don't know how to do things like this. Where is Marlene when you need her? I hope she decides to come, if Uriah or Lynn told her that we were playing tonight. I think Tori might be coming, if she wants, but she will know about the match whether or not she comes. The tattoo parlour is the main distributer of rumours and information, from the amount of chatterboxes and drunks that come in with their lives dancing at their lips. If you ever want to find out about a party you can go to that very night, you either find the Pedrads or the parlour.

We arrive at the tracks to find that Tori, Marlene and Lynn are already waiting for us. I check Christina and she gestures for me to go on, and she doesn't give me time to reply before she has already sat on a wall in the shadows. Tori waves me over and I join her, watching Christina over my shoulder.

Marlene bounds over to me, leaving the other girls. "What's up with her?" She asks, tossing her head in Christina's direction.

I sigh. "I don't know. She won't talk to me about it and I'm not going to make her. I was never very good at this in Abnegation. It was selfish to be upset so I never really got any practice."

Marlene bites her lip and shakes her hair out of a bobble. "Yeah, I get it. She might just be tired and not up for capture the flag but I suspect it is something more than that."

"How can you tell?"

"Look at her posture. She's on the defensive side."

"Are you sure you weren't made for Candor, Mar," I say, chuckling, "because you are very good at reading people."

Marlene snorts. "My mother came from Candor, but I could never fit in with those jerks. Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off!" **(A/N a fabulous song by Panic! At The Pagebreak.)**

I wince. "I did not need to know that, Marlene," I protest, much to her amusement. I spin her around and we head over to Tori and Lynn, who are talking about hair, I think.

"Hey, Tris," Tori greets cheerfully, excitement bubbling out of her.

"You're oddly happy today, Tori."

"I haven't played capture the flag in so long it is unbelievable," she tells us, bouncing up and down like a young child. Lynn steps on her toes to stop her from jiggling about too much and she glares at Tori.

"Stop. Bouncing," she instructs and Tori nods sheepishly. At this moment, Four and Zeke come running out from the tunnel that we exited from several moments with a stream of initiates chasing after them. Four and Zeke run over to us and the initiates disperse into their friendship groups.

"How come you are so late?" I ask in a purposefully condescending tone. Zeke eyes Four who opens his mouth to protest but then shuts it again.

" _He_ was still asleep and then the initiates got lost and one of them had followed me to ask for directions and the others just followed that one," Four explains hurriedly, trying to regain his breath. A sharp train whilst fills the air. "Oh, look, and there's the train. If you had gone to the dining hall to get a muffin that you were insisting on getting, we'd have missed the train," Four snaps at Zeke who is shaking his ankles out after running with no stretching or warm up first.

"Well unlike some people, I need food to work," Zeke counters, "and I don't just leech off the fear of everybody around me."

Four chuckles. "Are you trying to say that all I need to survive is the knowledge that lots of people are scared of me?"

"Yes."

Four rolls his eyes and braces himself for the jump onto the train. He whistles to get everyone's attention and we all start running. I am the first to get on, helping Christina up when she comes next. She has done herself up a bit more, her hair brushed a bit more and she is now wearing some concealer under her eyes. I am not wearing any make up today, which means the scars on my face are in full view. Some people still stare, like Mitch, though I think he is only staring to make a point, rather than the fact that he is fascinated by them. I'm so glad Eric has the fate he deserves.

Christina yells for everybody to be quiet, but nobody listens, and I think I'm the only one that actually noticed. Apparently I'm wrong though because Zeke then screams and the whole carriage silences. You could hear a pin drop. Zeke grins then gestures to Christina, who smiles a sickly sweet simper.

"Thank you, Zeke," she says, addressing the boy leaning next to his brother. She turns to the rest of the carriage. "Have you decided your teams?" She asks the initiates, who nod furiously.

"We're doing girls against boys," somebody cheers and the carriage instantly divides, as if an unspoken rule had just been put in place. Our team has less by just a few initiates but has me, Christina, Marlene, Lynn and Tori as the members, whereas the boys' team has more initiates – who generally have more skill – and Uriah, Zeke and Four. I guess Four didn't get his wish of being able to kick Uriah's ass, but instead he gets to kick mine.

"Hang on," complains Uriah, "they have more members than us."

Nobody says anything

I blurt out "you have Four!"

Uriah hesitates, looks at Four, then laughs. "Yeah you're right! Have you seen this kid? He's a freaking machine!"

Everybody chuckles, and Uriah earns an elbow into the stomach, which makes him contort with pain and scrunch up his face, as though he just sucked something sour. Four glares at him jokingly.

"We'll get off second," he offers, giving us the head start and opportunity to get away. I nod.

"Suit yourself. We'll beat you however you want us to," I banter, biting my lip in a playful taunt. A chorus of 'oooohs' fill the carriage and Four rolls his eyes, opening his mouth to say something, but Zeke cuts him to the chase.

"Yes, you'll beat us at losing," Zeke retorts, and I snigger.

"We are all awed by your incredible wit," I reply unfazed, "I always thought you were better fit in Erudite. Perhaps you aren't really Dauntless."

Zeke's eyes widen in alarm and Uriah winces, as though he had just been stabbed. I think I found Zeke's weak spot. The embarrassment of not really being Dauntless. I'm absolutely sure that was the worst fear Amar saw when he administered the tests. Note the sarcasm.

"Bad move, Six," Uriah says, watching his brother tense. "Yeah, you really screwed yourself over. Pissing off Zeke? Bad move."

I roll my eyes and shake my head, before jumping out of the train, a hoard of girls following me.

 _ **I wanted to carry on but I actually broke this laptop, which has all my files on it, so it is getting repaired tomorrow and I wanted to get something up because I don't know how long it will take so I just wanted to give you something. And don't worry, I have prepared and set up everything that you will hate me for. Your welcome, bitches. -Flucy**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**Don't think I'm unaware of how delayed this is, and honestly, I'd like to delay it further, but I've just been busy. Albeit reading other people's fanfics and playing Undertale but nevertheless, still being busy. I just felt really guilt, and I know this is hardly an original idea, but it's my take on it. And besides, I'm killing someone soon.**_

 _ **You're welcome. –Blur**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters.**_

 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

Leaping off the train in the middle of the night reminds of me of some well spent evenings and days with friends out in the park, be it paintballing, climbing the Ferris wheel – with the exception of Tobias – or just simply talking, and they all bring back good memories, though some others resurface and I don't think about them before pushing them away. I can't let emotions get it in the way, so I take a few seconds to compose myself then reluctantly regroup with the group of girls stood huddled a few feet away. They look at me expectantly and Lynn sighs.

"Well, now that our group leader has _finally_ turned up, we can begin," she says, jokingly, but she knows the burdens this place carries and I glare at her. She mouths her apologies to me and shrinks back into the crowd, with Marlene and a still slightly upset Christina by her side. I make my way to a large piece of debris and jump onto it, clearing my throat to get the attention on me. I wait until it's silent, and then a while longer to see if anyone has any ideas.

I clap my hands together. "So what's the plan?"

All the girls look at me with either confused or information hungry stares. Tori looks at me funnily. "You're the captain, shouldn't you be telling us?"

"Ugh, honestly, _Six_ , we expected better from you," Marlene says sarcastically, rolling her eyes, making her way through the crowd, before stepping up onto the large lump of building I'm stood on. "But on a more serious note, Six makes a good point."

Some of the transfer initiates look confused, so Jamie decides to fill everyone in. "What they're saying, is that we need to make the plan, and not rely on them," she says loudly, eyeing me for approval, looking away when I subtly nod my head.

"So, what's the plan, Jamie?" Someone accuses playfully, pushing her in the shoulder. Jamie blushes.

"I don't know! I was just making a point!"

A smile flickers onto my face. "Well, let's just start jogging that way, and you guys make a plan, because the boys will be getting off soon," I point out, hopping daintily off the debris, Marlene in tow. We set off at a fairly quick, steady pace, and separate into groups of members and initiates, the latter trailing behind us, chattering away, Jamie and Janet clearly taking control. I think Janet is the girl that was with Mekhi on the day of the guns, and that was really good. I can only tell Janet is a leader, because I can hear the yells of other people shouting her name, begging for her attention.

I jog over to Christina, and she actually greets me this time, smiling.

"Hey," I say quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder whilst we run, slowing her only a bit. I've learned to keep up with faster speeds than my own, and I'm used to it. "How are you?" It's a risky question, and I worry that Christina might break down again, but I doubt it. Her smile fades a bit but it's still there, shadowing her face.

She shakes her head gently. "I've been better, but I'm not going to cry again," she says quietly, looking at me with warmth in her eyes. I must visibly relax because Christina laughs when she sees my tense body go limp and hear me sigh with relief. "You didn't have to worry about me _that_ much, but it's nice to know you care."

I roll my eyes. "You can be a bit of an idiot sometimes."

"What? How?"

"I've lived with you for almost a year now, and apparently you didn't know that I care about you," I grin, taking my hand from Christina's shoulder, and shoving her lightly. She chuckles breathlessly.

"I know, I'm sorry, but-." She pauses and takes in a breath, "Will's being really distant with me, and I don't want him to break up with me. I mean, last night, I caught him on the phone by the chasm, talking to some girl for hours. He seemed really happy speaking with her as well, but kept checking to see if other people were watching. And the worst thing about the whole thing, is that he is acting as if he has done nothing wrong." She puts her head in her hands and sucks in a breath, and I pinch my lips. I don't know what to say. I can't lie to her; she's an ex-Candor, and isn't stupid, and it doesn't look good.

"Do you want to know what I'd do?" I ask her.

"Yes," I hear her whisper, sniffing.

"I'd show him you don't care. Just be happy, and if that means totally ignoring him, do it. Sisters before misters, right? Just hang out with me and Mar, and don't give him any of the reactions he wants out of you. Got it?"

Christina nods, and a grin spreads over her face. "It sounds like a plan."

I punch her shoulder in a friendly manner, and we swerve towards the rest of the group. I don't know how long we've been running, but we've ended up in the forest that Eric's group hid their flag in during initiation. I come to a halt and everyone else follows suit.

"Do you have a plan yet?" I ask the initiates, rather demandingly, "because I just want this night over with as soon as possible."

I hear a few murmurs of agreement, but Tori cheers, obviously tired and wanting to go home. I snicker.

"Yeah," shouts Jamie, "we've got a plan."

She doesn't continue, though, so I motion for her to with my hands and she explains further. "We were going to go to Navy Pier, but we don't know where the boys will have gone, or be planning on going."

I bite my lip and Christina looks pointedly at me. "So _Six_ , do you know where _Four_ might have gone?" The way she says our names so suggestively is rather disconcerting and I shuffle uncomfortably.

"I wouldn't be too surprised if he went to Navy Pier, because he knows that I always go there, but also because it is has superior strategic positioning potential." Now that the words are out of my mouth, I sound too smart and start giggling at some shocked expression.

Christina starts to cough uncontrollably and all eyes are quickly on her, but she is obviously faking it, which is proved when she mutters "Erudite", and continues to cough heavily. Everyone finds this hilarious, apart from me, and I elbow her in the chest, and she just laughs harder.

"Well, we all know you _especially_ want to go to Navy Pier, T-Six, if you know _he_ 's going to be there," Tori exclaims, laughing like a young girl, and I flush a shade of red, that I pray can't be detected in the darkness. I glare at Tori.

"Tori. I didn't tell them."

Tori's face drops and her eyes widen in alarm. "Oh shit. Sorry about that," she says, scratching the back of her neck.

"It's fine," I assure her, and she nods.

"I know," she tells me, dropping her arm. "Besides, all the Dauntless-borns already knew, didn't you!" She yells, trying to get us to start yelling and whooping, rile us all up.

All the Dauntless-born girls whoop until I yell at them to stop, and eventually, they quiet down, at least enough to think. All the transfers are frantically asking for details, and much to my satisfaction, the Dauntless-borns refuse to answer, saying that it isn't 'their problem to expose'. Tobias is my problem? Knowing that if these girls are anything like Christina, which is annoying yet persistent, they won't give up without any information, so I decide to chip in.

"My problem? Are you kidding me? He isn't _my_ problem!" I chirp, much to my amusement. All of the girls whistle and howl with joy, and our position will be given away pretty soon, but I couldn't care less. I'm having too much fun.

"Guys! Guys," I shout, motioning for them to shut up, "you're giving away our position!"

"Is it Uriah?" Somebody yells from within the crowd, and I look to Marlene, who just bites her lip and shrugs, grinning all the same. I'm taken aback at the suggestion of Uriah, though.

"Uriah?" I ask, incredulous. "You know what? Sure. Whatever. If it'll make you shut up. Now let's go."

The girls all squeal and we start to charge to Navy Pier, which isn't too far away, but is in the opposite direction to where we are now, which could prove as a useful diversion, if the boys' squad was drawn to our large amount of noise, which I don't doubt they will have been. We run rather quickly and make it to Navy Pier in less than ten minutes, which must mean we were sprinting for most of the journey. The girls make a huddle in the centre of the pier and begin to discuss places to put the flag. I manage to slip out of the conversation and I jog off and lean against one of the horses on the carousel, my gun slung over my shoulder. Nobody notices my departure apart from a tall, skinny brunette, who also manages to escape the group. She bounds over to me, almost like an excited puppy.

"Please can I have the flag?" She asks politely, holding her hands out.

I nod. "Sure, but first, what's your name?"

"Pace," she says, shaking her head. "Stupid name, I know."

"At least you aren't called Four," I point out, handing her the flag and I hoist myself up onto the horse.

She quizzically tilts her head to the side. "Your name is a number, too."

"Nah," I say casually, readjusting my gun, "I have a real name. I only use the name 'Six' during initiation. Did you not notice Tori call me 'T-Six'? She almost gave me away!"

Pace laughs lightly and tucks the flag into the back of her trousers, like a tail. I raise my eyebrows in confusion.

"So when they haven't decided where to hide it," Pace explains, throwing her head over her shoulder to the argument behind her, "I can run off with it like this, diverting all of the boys away from you guys so you can attack them as they chase me."

"That seems like a plan. Why don't you go tell them," I suggest, much to Pace's joking dismay.

"But, Six! Where's the fun in that?"

I laugh and we stand in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, or it would have been silence if it weren't for Christina yelling out orders and everyone else countering her.

Pace breaks the quietude. "So is Four's name not really 'Four'?" She asks, and if anyone else had asked, I'd have snapped at them, but not only do I already like this girl, she's polite, and I respect that.

"It's not my place to say," I reply simply and she nods.

"So what's your real name?"

"What faction are you from, Pace?"

"Candor."

"So how do I know you aren't going to go tell everyone else?"

She smiles a sly grin and her teeth almost glow in the moonlight. "I left Candor for a reason, Six; I'm a sneaky, lying, bitch."

I chuckle. "Well, if you are a liar, as you say, then you could be lying to me right now, which means you were telling the truth just then, which means you are a liar and then-," I say, giggling, but I'm interrupted by somebody behind me.

"And then you are caught in an infinite paradox," a deep voice says. A masculine voice. I turn around and see Will grinning in the shadows, and he shoots a paintball at me that I narrowly miss. I turn to Pace and shove her away.

"RUN!" I yell, getting the attention of the rest of the girls. They all quickly get out their guns and split, getting into good defensive positions. It is mostly silent, except for Pace's feet pounding down the pier, all of the girls with their guns trained around her, ready to fire at anyone who races after her. Will, after being mesmerised by Pace running away, lifts his gun back at me, and I brace myself for a hit, but fluorescent pink paint spatters across his chest first and he drops to his knees, grunting in pain, dropping his gun in the process. I look around and see Tori firing rapidly at anything that moves before diving into a bush. I know the boys have us surrounded, but I think only Will found me, because I wasn't with the rest of our team. I manoeuvre through an array of colourfully decorated animals before finding myself only a hundred feet or so away from the Ferris wheel. None of the other girls have moved or shot anything, and remain still and silent in the bushes, but I don't doubt the boys are moving in on us, so I decide to do something truly ridiculous.

As soon as I first jump off the carousel and start running into the open, I start to wave my arms in the air and scream, charging at a great speed towards the Ferris wheel. Most of the boys' attention must have been directed to me by now, and I can hear paintballs puffing behind me, though none manage to hit target.

"Now!" I yell, knowing that only the qualified members on my team will know what I mean. We decided earlier that year that if a circumstance like this ever happened, there should be a protocol for what we need to do, and I know that they know what I meant because they all start screaming a tribal holler as they start firing at anything that laughs. I can hear male yells of pain and female cheers, and soon enough, I'm sure that all of the girls are frantically firing everywhere, because then all of the boys because charge too, and when I glance back, I see the male initiates and Uriah and Zeke are attacking. The only person missing, is Four, so he is targeting either me or Pace, who I'm sure is very far away by now, if she managed to keep at the same speed that she started at, the same pace. _Pace._ Come to think of it, she is very aptly named, and either her parents anticipated her being a fabulous runner, it's a nickname, or her parents actually were runners. It makes me smile, anyhow.

I reach the base of the Ferris wheel and grip the rungs tightly, reassuring myself that they do actually work. I have climbed the Ferris wheel, since the incident with Eric, but it hasn't stopped me from shivering every time I even approach it. Eric is in a place where he deserves to be, now. And he will be there for as long as I live.

I sling my gun over my shoulder and start to quickly climb upwards, knowing that either someone will follow me, or they'll just leave me ascending. I might still get shot at, lower down, but when I get higher, there is no hope of hitting me, and if it is windy, even a small ping in the shoulder could knock me off balance easily.

I must only be up ten rungs when I hear somebody shuffling beneath me. I smile to myself before turning to the bottom of the ladder.

"Hey Four," I say, biting my lip, avoiding his real name, just to be cautious of any people watching us. He grins at me.

"Hey Six," he mocks, running his hands along the metal bars of the ladder. We sit for a moment in silence, and I slip when a torrent of wind buffets me.

"Are we going up today or are we just going to sit here and talk?" I ask sarcastically, knowing the answer. I don't listen for the reply, and just scurry up the ladder faster, and I hear Tobias sigh behind me, but the way the ladder shakes under the new addition of weight is comforting. As I keep on climbing, I feel Four's warm breath upon my heels. I look down at him and he is consciously avoiding looking down, and looks as if he is about to faint. His breaths are shallow and rapid and I laugh.

"What's so funny, Tris?" He pants, his eyebrows creased.

"And you were telling me not to faint!" I laugh, continuing upwards.

"Oh shut up. We've been up here so many times, I'm actually getting used to it," he says confidently, but his breathlessness is unconvincing, and I laugh in disbelief. "Okay, maybe that wasn't the most convincing I could have been, but at least I haven't screamed yet."

I let out a happy huff and continue climbing until I come across the platform in the centre of the wheel. Tobias scrambles to his feet and leans against the metal struts supporting the carriages. His knuckles have gone white from his tight grasp on the bars, but at least more colour has come into his face.

I focus on my breaths in the air, white puffs of smoke escaping from my mouth. I remember something in the news about the invention of cigarettes from a while ago. When the Erudite first tested them, they decided that they were unnecessary and they were supposedly all destroyed. Rumours that some rogue Erudite still create cigarettes and distribute them illegally around Dauntless still float around, but I take no notice to them. I know Caleb wouldn't do something like that, and that's all I care about.

I jump around a bit to warm up, before looking onto the game below me. I can't see the pulsing light of Pace anymore, but I guess she must have made it incredibly far away or hidden the flag very well, if I can't find it from up here. Below, there is still a battle commencing, screams and yelps of pain echoing up to us. Tobias is still pressed against the cold struts and I walk over to him.

"Where did you lads hide your flag?" I ask him, walking over slowly and looking him right in the eye. Each step is placed directly in front of the other, just how Christina taught me to seduce people, once upon a time. I never thought I'd use those techniques though. Tobias doesn't seem to care.

He chortles. "Lads?"

My face remains straight. "Don't avoid the question. Where did your team hide the flag?" I reiterate, enunciating each word slowly and clearly.

"Why should I tell you?"

"Why wouldn't you?" I taunt, moving closer to his face, so that my lips are almost touching Tobias's ear. I can feel his shiver.

"Uriah hid it."

"Is that all I'm getting?" I ask, pulling away to look him in the eye.

"I don't actually know where he hid it though. He just took it and ran."

I sigh. I doubt Tobias would lie to me, and it does honestly sound like a plausible idea, bearing in mind that this is Uriah we are talking about. And I trust Tobias. I smile a little and press my lips to his. He returns this kiss, but pushes me back a bit, so he can stand upright properly, elsewise he'd have had no hands on the bar behind him and we'd have fallen to our death.

Once in the middle of the platform, he kisses me again, and places a hand on the nape of my neck, whilst one of my arms runs under his shirt and up traces his spine. After a while, I pull away, much to Tobias's disappointment.

"I have a wild Uriah to catch," I state, turning towards the ladder, but quickly spin back around. "Are you coming?"

 _ **A penny for your pagebreak!**_

After eventually rediscovering Uriah's flag, which he'd buried in some sand, we were tasked with finding Pace, who'd run off so quickly that not only had no one followed her, but nobody had even seen where she had gone. We all split up and ran around screaming her name for what felt like hours, until she eventually ran into Zeke, who tried to take her flag and pretend like the game was still going and that we had lost, but when we all met at the trains later, I had to explain to her that we had, in fact, won.

"Pace! We won!" I whoop, sticking my tongue out at a sullen Zeke, who was sticking out his lower lip. Pace looks at me sadly and shakes her head.

"No, we didn't. This person-," she says, pointing at Zeke, "he caught me and took the flag. Sorry." She tries to walk off but I grab her shoulder and spin her around.

"You know he's joking, right? We found their flag ages ago!" I explain, emphasising the word 'ages'. She perks up.

"Wait, really?" Pace asks brightly, her eyes wide. I nod my head. "Wow, I'm too used to nobody lying," she mutters to herself before walking off. I'm glad Abnegation didn't have any undesirable qualities that could prove difficult in Dauntless, like a Candor's tendency to believe everything. It makes sense.

We stand around, amiably chatting for a couple of minutes until the next train arrives and we all jump on, all of us managing to squeeze into the same carriage.

"Alright everyone, guns back in the box," Four orders and everyone obeys. I walk up to Christina, who seems to be frothing with excitement and bubbling over the top.

"Calm down, Chris," I say, using her most hated nickname to try and knock some sense into her. She doesn't even realise and keeps squeaking.

"I can't! I'm just so happy. Today's been really great," she says far too loudly, and I think everyone can hear her, but she isn't done yet. "I mean, we won, we won against Four's team, too, and you didn't faint," she squeals, and I flinch at the mention of me. Some people look at me funnily, but I straighten up and pretend not to care, when I really do. My first thought is that it would be selfless to show that I care, so I shrug her comment off as nothing, but I can't ignore the strange looks from Tori, who didn't know about everything that's happened with me fainting.

I just smile and nod. "Yeah. Yeah, today has been a pretty great day, hasn't it?"

 _ **I probably didn't write as much as you wanted me to, but I wrote it all in one sitting, which is new (for me), and I used some fancy words (for me) too! As I say I've just been busy doing nothing and all.**_

 _ **YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD IT WAS TO NOT ACCIDENTALLY TIP TRIS OFF THE EDGE OF THE FERRIS WHEEL I WAS SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING IT. God forbid, though. You guys would fucking kill me.**_

 _ **Later bitches**_

 _ **-Flucy**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**I'm back, but only because I'm getting close to killing someone off, and I love when people die, so I'm just excited. I think I'll kill them off either the end of this chapter or the end of the one after.**_

 _ **I don't like time skips very much, so I always try to do every day, though tell me if it gets boring.**_

 _ **NOTE: Mitch looks uncannily like Draco Malfoy. Just for the record.**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters.**_

 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

I spent last night consoling Christina, who finally broke down and decided to tell me everything. Her Candor tendencies left no remark aside, and through her sobbing, she managed to tell me all her problems with Will. I'll be sharing some stern words with that boy, because if he dare hurt her, I will be more than willing to do whatever she asks.

I'm glad I woke up to my alarm rather than Christina, because last night's therapy session carried on until early morning, and if Christina had woken me up any earlier than absolutely necessary, I might not have been so sympathetic next time. I slip on a long sleeved shirt and some thick black leggings, before slipping on some new black trainers, a purchase by Christina that I'm actually really thankful for, considering the amount of times she has brought back clothes I wouldn't be caught dead in, that I've had to return.

I am ready half an hour early, after skipping my morning shower, and I'm glad that I had one last night instead. I snatch a blueberry muffin off the kitchen counter and grab a set of keys from the bowl on the windowsill and slip out of the apartment, careful not to disturb Christina, groggy from lack of sleep and the early morning combined. No doubt she'll be irritated this morning, and, quite honestly, I'd prefer not to deal with her at this time.

I bite into my muffin as I make my way to the Chasm. Nobody should be there at this time, and I hope for some peace. I might not mind if somebody I knew was there, but I don't want to deal with an initiate or Peter or someone I don't know. I'm not looking for any more friends, when the ones I have are perfect.

I hum to myself as I pop a crumb into my mouth, turning down a corridor that passes Tobias's apartment. I pause in front of the door for a moment, wondering if I should go in or not. I turn away and carry on walking. I am an independent person. I don't need to be with someone at every waking moment.

I silently cheer when I am greeted by only the roar of rushing water from beneath me when I reach the Chasm. I crumple the wrapper from my muffin into a ball and toss it into the abyss, watching the paper glide down into the darkness. I sigh and lean onto the iron railing guarding only one side of the bridge that crosses that crosses. Perhaps they only put the barrier up on one side so Eric could knock people over the side, or so people could kill themselves.

Or so they could kill Divergents.

I still can't believe that they used to kill them. _Us._ It's not like they are seeking us anymore, or need us for anything. People know that there are Divergents walking among them, but they don't care. It's just not a particularly desirably attribute. However we live in a world full of things not particularly desirably but we still make the best out of it. I still need to make sure nobody Divergent gets discovered. Some fools believe the rumours about us being dangerous, and I don't want to risk anyone's relationships, no matter who they are.

I close my eyes and lean over the barrier slightly, letting the water spray onto my face like a mist settling onto grass in the early hours of dawn. It's refreshing, and so much nicer than if I had a shower. I slide my legs under the lowest bar of the barrier and sit on the railing, so my chin rests on the top of it, whilst my legs dangle underneath it. If you didn't know me, you might have thought I was going to jump.

"Decided you don't like this life and want to end it, huh?" I hear a voice say from behind me. I purse my lips and turn to see who spoke.

"Hey, Zeke," I say quietly, not wanting to talk too loud. It's still very early in the morning. He grins and walks up to me, leaning on the barrier next to where I stand, resting his elbows on the rail and breathing in the scent of the nothingness; a revitalising freshness.

"So how come you are awake so early?" I ask, not turning to face him though. It is far too early for any normal person to be up and about, but it hits me that Zeke is far from normal. I look at him and take in all his features; he's nothing like Uriah. Zeke is definitely smaller than his younger brother, and has a smaller build, though I know for a fact that he is stronger. I've seen them fight before.

He shrugs. "Couldn't sleep any longer," he says, gazing into the blackness. He chuckles. "That, and the fact I have a shift in the control room now."

I laugh. "Well, if your shift is now, why are you here?" I point out, dangling my arms over the railing, hooking them around.

"Since when did I turn up on time for anything?"

"At least now I know why you are late for everything," I say. "It turns out, that you just choose to have random conversations with everyone you meet."

He snorts. "Just one of the many problems I face when I know everyone in the compound."

He reaches into his pocket and conjures up a chocolate chip muffin, breaking it neatly in half.

"Wow, you were even awake early enough to get one of the nice muffins," I joke, snatching one half of the bun and tossing it into my mouth.

"Yeah, I know. Normally only the fence guards who have come back from night shifts or were setting off for early shifts get them," he says, tearing a chunk of chocolate out of the muffin and crushing it beneath his forefinger and thumb. He beams. "I must admit, I'm actually rather chuffed," he adds proudly and I snicker and shake my head in disbelief.

"You're too easily pleased."

"I just have low expectations. Then, everything is so much better than you thought it would be." He smiles sadly. "But the sad things make it so much worse. When the little you hoped for couldn't be achieved."

I look down. Who knew a Pedrad could be so meaningful? I've never thought like this before. It's depressingly honest and true, but good advice, nonetheless. Zeke gets up from the railing with a grunt.

"Goodbye, Beatrice," he teases, heading in the direction of the control room.

"Goodbye, Ezekiel," I retort, chortling when he flips me off before slipping into the darkness. I compose myself and untangle myself from the railing and head towards the Pit to meet the other instructors. I'm in a surprisingly good mood today and almost skip to the Pit, dancing down the empty corridors with a smile on my face. I'm fairly sure that Zeke is having a good time watching me do this, so when I find a camera in the corner of a hallway, I run up to it, jump, pull a face and stick both my middle fingers up. I can practically hear Zeke laughing from here.

I arrive at the Pit in good time, and find some initiates there, and Tobias, who sits idly on a table, picking casually at a cuticle. Probably because he doesn't want to look like he hasn't got anything better to be doing.

I hear some people mutter greetings to me, and I smile a bit, but not much. Not so much that someone might think I actually liked them, but enough for them to know I appreciate the gesture. Four looks up from his hand and jogs over to me, grateful for my arrival.

"Hey," he mutters, his lips next to my ear. He sounds, tired, bored and maybe even a little bit wary. He keeps checking on the group of initiates and he pinches his lips together.

He pulls away and I can see his tired eyes dragging his eyebrows down, like an anchor too heavy for the boat. I smile at him, shoving him lightly on his shoulder, and he bites his lip.

"Cheer up, Four," I tease, walking back over to his table and sitting on the edge. Four follows suit and sits next to me. "Have you seen Uriah today?" I ask, kicking his foot to gain his attention.

He shakes his head. "No, but I passed Zeke earlier and he said he was talking to you."

I nod. "Who knew he could be so deep and thoughtful?" I ask, incredulous. Four huffs.

"Trust me, I didn't expect it, but you get used to it eventually. He's rarely serious though. Today is probably the only day this year that he'll be like this for," Four explains, watching the door for the arrival of Uriah or Christina or Lynn. He pauses. "What philosophical lesson did he teach you today?"

I let out a heavy sigh and put my head in my hands. "Something about having low expectations so you'll never be disappointed in life. But then, he just _had_ to go on to say that it's so awful when your expectations aren't met. I think it's the way he said it as well. Too much, too deep, too early."

I look to the initiates, who are all talking about the fights today. Tobias was the one who decided the pairings, mainly because he has done it before and is supposed to be training me, but also because I don't know anybody's names. Mekhi bounces excitedly and jumps onto Jamie's back, who squeals and throws him off. Mekhi lands with a thump on the ground and laughs.

I'm silently praying that I get to watch Tiff get beaten up. She has been nothing but a flirtatious pain, and hasn't even been paying much attention to the lessons. Even Tia could do more damage than her, and she is uncannily similar to Myra, following her boyfriend and then eventually getting kicked out of Dauntless. I'd think it was a shame if I was still Abnegation, and I might have pitied her, but becoming Dauntless has chiselled me down to a refined fighter and robot, devoid of sympathy to anyone other than close friends.

I look at Tobias, but he averts his eyes from mine, and acts as if he hadn't seen me. He looks slightly panicky and keeps looking over his shoulder, as if someone was going to jump out at him.

"You alright?" I ask. He bites the inside of his cheek and nods. I don't believe him.

At this moment, the door to the Pit opens, and Uriah strides in, Christina and another girl that is certainly not Lynn talking avidly about something. The girl is tall with long blonde hair. Marlene. I share a look with Tobias, and by his furrowed brow, I can tell that he was not told of Marlene coming.

"Marlene, why are you here?" Tobias asks, stepping off the table. I follow him, tripping over his ankles when he stops abruptly. He apologises quickly before turning his attention to the new girl.

Marlene grins. "Nice to see you too, Four," she mutters, rolling her eyes. "Lynn is busy," she finishes bluntly, looking pointedly at the ground. She obviously knows more, but doesn't offer any more explanation. Four sighs.

"Hurry up then."

"Rude," Marlene murmurs. Four walks over to the exit of the room, ignoring all of us. The initiates watch us, slightly hesitant to do anything when everyone is acting so strangely. After a few moments, Christina continues talking as if Tobias hadn't just completely disregarded her presence, but Uriah is having none of Tobias's lack of acknowledgement.

"Oh, hi, Four. It's nice to see you too!" He squeals sarcastically, piquing the interest of all the initiates and Tobias. Tobias turns around and glares at him.

"What, Uriah?" He says, grumpily. What is his problem this morning? Hopefully Uriah stops talking now. He might get away with it. Something is definitely wrong. Very wrong.

"I was just notifying you that I am, indeed, here," Uriah continues, and Tobias is not looking amused. Tobias walks straight over to Uriah and gets right into his face. Uriah is taller than most people his age, but Tobias still dwarfs him with his immense height. He towers over him and stares him dead in the eye. Uriah pales. What does Tobias think he is doing? They are our friends, not initiates or people to bully.

"And I'm just notifying you of _my_ presence," Tobias retorts, breathing against Uriah's face. The audience of initiates are enjoying the show, some watching in awe of instructors turning against each other, others watching in apprehension, and the rest grinning mischievously, like Mitch, Tiff and Corbin. I've finally realised that Mitch took the position of Peter, Tiff took a more feminine version of Molly, and Corbin, the boy I only just figured out the name of, is Drew. "Whilst you are working here, you are under my control, and you will shut up, or work here you will no longer," Tobias - or perhaps instructor Four would be more fitting – spits in a dangerously quiet tone.

Uriah gulps and nods viciously. Tobias grins slyly.

"Good."

Christina chuckles a bit as Tobias stalks out of the room, all of us hesitantly following him. "Do not mess with Four. He will literally snap you," Christina says, addressing the initiates. "He practically snapped Uriah, don't be so egotistical to think he wouldn't have a go at you, too. Or Tris for that matter. Touch her and be prepared for pain."

I blush and jog up to Tobias who is several meters up the corridor ahead of us. "What's up with you?" I ask venomously. There is a dash of annoyance in my voice. Nobody spits at my friends without expecting to be facing me later. Not even Tobias.

He shakes his head.

"Don't tell me it's nothing," I hiss, jabbing a finger into his sternum. He stumbles back a bit into another narrower hallway. I push him further down into the dark corridor, and check over my shoulder, and watch all the initiates, Uriah, Christina and Marlene turn in the opposite direction to the training room. Christina nods at me, telling me to continue. I turn back to Tobias and push him roughly against a wall with my fingers taut on his chest. He has the strength to push me back, but he doesn't want to. He wouldn't hurt me. I get up in his face, close enough to see his eyes sunken and watery, and their flecked navy blue beads darkened to black. His pupils are constricted and flit nervously, gazing everywhere but me.

"Tris-ˮ he starts, but I hold a hand up to stop him, and obediently, he does. He turns his head away from me and I grab his chin and pull it back down to face me. I don't want to be pushing him around like this, and it hurts me just as much as it hurts him.

"Stop. Talk," I order him.

He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Nothing gets to him like this. Whatever it is, it's bad. "I caught a group of transfer pricks talking about you like an object." He clears his voice and then quickly adds on in an apprehensive whisper, "they were, um, sexualising you."

I pull my hand back from his face and take a step backwards, pressing my spine against the wall opposite to him. I sink to my knees and my head droops into my chest and I take sudden interest in the floor. Tobias purses his lips.

"Tris," he says. "Tris."

I put my face in my knees and take a deep breath in. I am stronger than this. I won't succumb to weakness when I don't need to. Tobias sits down opposite me, not breaking his gaze away. I can see his eyes trained on me in my peripheral vision. I sit up and compose myself. I straighten my legs out and take deep breaths.

"What's the worst they can do? I'm stronger than them; I've dealt with it before. There's no need to worry," I say, and I'm annoyed at how weak I sound. I think I'm reassuring myself more than anything. I finally look Tobias in his eyes, and, like every other time, I don't see sympathy or pity. At least he thinks no less of me. I stand up and straighten my clothes, dusting pieces of fluff from my clothes. Tobias doesn't make aby effort to move.

"Tris," he says, hesitantly. "There's more."

My stomach lurches. What more could there possibly be? They think I'm pretty, and haven't been so subtle about it. What else is there to it?

"They have a plan," he says.

"Then I just need to be careful," I eventually say, nodding.

Tobias shakes his head. "They were talking about Peter. Peter Hayes."

A weight drops in my stomach and, involuntarily, I let out a sigh, leaning back against the wall. This could be awful. This could be, really, truly awful and I have to bite my lip to refrain from screaming. Of all of my enemies, why did it have to be Peter? He's already tried something once, what is to say he won't do it again. Tobias stands up and takes both my hands in his. I look into his eyes.

"They won't touch you," he says, and I search his words for a shimmer of doubt and leave empty handed. If I ask questions now, I will break down, so I just nod and bit my lip. I plant a kiss on his lips, and we stand like this for a few moments, before I gesture for us to continue down the hallway. And for the first time this week, we walk hand-in-hand.

 _ **==I write under the pseudonym of Page Break==**_

When we arrive at the training room, probably only five minutes later, nobody is fighting yet. Instead, they are all practicing tirelessly on the black bags, training for their fights as they would an unrevised test. Everyone notices us when we arrive, and the smarter ones look away, drawing their attention back to the bags in front of them, whilst the lesser intelligent ones stare hard at us, and only turn back to their bag when we glare and yell at them. We decide to give them five more minutes of unsupervised training before the fights. They can choose to practice or talk, but the outcomes of the fights will probably reflect how hard they trained.

We jog over to where Marlene, Christina and Uriah stand and they welcome us into their little circle.

"Hey guys," Christina says, trying to avoid the tension between Uriah and Tobias, so thick you could cut through it like warm butter. "We were waiting for you guy to turn up, so you can watch these idiots feel pain too."

"How thoughtful," I remark. "So it wasn't at all because you don't know what the fights are going to be?"

"No," Uriah protests, "because I decided the Dauntless-born fights, so Christina and I are going to supervise them, you'll do your feeble transfers, and Marlene…"

"You can just leave, if you want," Christina finishes.

Marlene shrugs. "I might hang about for a bit. I'll find a way to start a fight with someone. It could be you, Tris," she adds mischievously.

I roll my eyes. "I look forward to it."

 _ **++A pathetically practical pagebreak++**_

 _ **(I need a new way to do this)**_

The fights are all over by the time everyone is dismissed for the evening meal, after we took time to evaluate the fights, and wait for initiates to return from dragging another to the infirmary. Unfortunately, we still had to make them fight until one of them was unable to continue, which is still awful to watch, but I didn't let it show.

The first fight was between Tia, and a girl from Candor called Amina, which I think means honesty. They circled each other nervously for a long time, until Tobias said something about it, and they finally got going.

Amina took the first hit at Tia when she wasn't watching, and got a solid blow to the stomach before Tia had realised what was going on. It winded her and knocked her to the ground, before Amina ended the fight quickly with a kick to the head. Amina was disgusted with herself, like Al, and shivered as she dragged the weaker girl from the ring, like one might if they were dragging a bloodied corpse.

The second fight was between the nice boy Clark and a larger boy called Charlie, who spent most of his time with Kate. Clark seemed to have befriended Pace and Margot, unless they were all previously friends in Candor. The instant Charlie stepped in the ring, Clark landed a fist to Charlie's neck, which stunned him, and then kicked him in the gut. Charlie, being much bigger than Clark, didn't seem too fazed, and speedily regained composure. Charlie threw his fist at Clark's head, which must have almost knocked him unconscious, but the fight is over as soon as Charlie drew his elbow back into the other side of his Clark's head and punched him on the nose. I hoped these fights don't get too bloody.

From the other side of the room, I can see Mekhi and Janet sprawled on the floor, scrabbling to their feet. They seem to be giggling quite a lot, which is amusing for everyone to watch. A friendly brawl to the unconsciousness.

Upon Clark being carried out of the ring by Charlie, Four sends Corbin and Mitch into the ring. Corbin rubbed the back of his hand nervously and instantly paled when he heard his name, knowing that he'd be duelling against someone that he knows he can't defeat. Mitch threw a glare at me and winked. I don't know if I blushed or not, but a sly smirk crept onto Mitch's face, and I'm guessing that he liked my reaction.

Mitch had barely given Corbin time to ready himself before his first blow plants itself on Corbin's lower lip, creating a split in the corner of his mouth. Tentatively, he placed two fingers on his mouth, and winced at the feeling of slick blood running down his face. He only narrowly avoided Mitch's kick, and filled with fury, swept his legs out from underneath him. Mitch fell onto his back, and only let Corbin kick him in the ribs once before he had yanked him down and gotten up himself. Mitch is definitely the next Peter. You can tell by the way he laughs sadistically at Corbin groaning in pain. And Corbin is supposedly friends with this person.

I share a glance with Tobias, who pinches his lips, withholding any curses on the tip of his tongue. Even Marlene – who normally enjoys a good brawl – does not look too happy with this fight. And I'm not happy about it either.

Mitch kept pummelling Corbin, who was now on the floor in a press up position, trying to scrape himself off the floor. I admire his courage to stand up to someone larger than himself, but he really needs to know when he has lost. Mitch is kicking and thrashing at Corbin by the time I'm at the side of the ring and dragging Mitch off the boy, Tobias not far behind me.

"Mitch – you've won. Stop," I ordered, and Mitch laughed mirthlessly. Mitch spat on Corbin, who groaned as he stumbled to his feet.

"You're pathetic," Mitch said, before stalking off a giggling Tiff. Tobias looked down at Corbin, shook his head and sighed, before walking back to the board and circling Mitch's name.

I wrapped a firm hand around Corbin's shoulder and pulled him to his feet.

"Thanks," he muttered, stifling groans.

I nodded. "You need new friends."

"Yep."

Corbin scampered away, avoiding everyone. He stayed away from all the friendship groups and stood awkwardly at the side, avoiding Mitch like a virus.

I jogged back over to Tobias, who checked the list pinned to the board, before calling out "Tiff and Pace".

Pace squealed excitedly and sprinted into the ring, and Marlene smirked, before sauntering over to the side of the ring. She whispered something into Pace's ear, causing her to laugh, before standing off at the side. Tiff casually walked into the ring, unaware that Pace is a much better fighter than her, even if Tiff is a pretty decent fighter.

"Show me what you got, Pace," Tiff taunted, making Pace chortle.

"It'd be my pleasure," she replied sassily, before launching herself at the smaller blonde. Pace's shots were calculated and well-choreographed, landing at every point she wanted, her sinewy limbs working in perfect synchrony to the rest of her body. Marlene cheered and pumped her fists, and a smile managed to break out on my face too.

By the time Pace stepped back to admire her handiwork, Tiff had been reduced to a bloodied mass of tangled arms and legs, and was whimpering.

"Did you enjoy your front row seats to the show?" Pace said, pulling the girl up by the collar and shoving her back towards Mitch, whose expression was unreadable. Marlene was especially pleased with this result and was bouncing around on the toes of her feet. By this point, the Dauntless-Born initiates had finished their fights and were coming over to watch. Uriah and Christina trundled over to us.

"Well that was interesting," Christina remarked, before being cut off by Tobias.

"Next up – Jacob and Kate. Margot, you will not be fighting today."

Jacob and Kate exchanged a knowing glance and smiles broke out on their faces. They raced each other to the mat and began to circle, occasionally bursting out into laughter. Kate was the first to regain composure and she aimed a fast punch to Jacob's temple, but he swiped her hand away before she made contact, and kneed her twice quickly in the stomach. Kate landed on her shoulders with a painful ' oomph' and there was a collective hiss of sympathy from the crowd, with cheers sometimes being yelled from Mekhi or Jamie, who were both sporting bruised faces and bleeding noses.

Kate got to her feet quickly and dashed around to Jacob's back and she kicked him forward in the lower back and then hooked an arm around his neck, repeatedly punching him in the jaw. Jacob threw his elbow back and got a lucky, powerful blow to Kate's head, swiftly knocking her unconscious. There were multiple groans from the audience, and Jacob tapped Kate's cheek before slinging her over his shoulder.

Surprisingly, though, Marlene entered the ring to announce something.

"We instructors, have decided to fight for you, just as another demonstration. But this time, it'll be a 'girls versus boys' competition, and we will all be fighting at the same time."

Uriah gaped. "When did _we_ decide this, and there are more girls than boys! That is so unfair!"

I sighed. "Uriah, do I really need to remind you that Four is male again? You have Four! It's hardly unfair."

Uriah glanced nervously at Tobias. "Yeah but I've pissed him off and he might turn on me…"

I snorted and walked into the ring, Tobias and Christina in tow. Uriah hesitated before joining us, and the girls grouped in either corner to form a strategy.

"Right," Christina said, clapping her hands together, "Six, you can distract Four _by any means necessary_ ," she added with a cheeky wink, earning a joking glare from me.

"It's a good idea, actually," Marlene, agreed, to my surprise. "We should be complete teases towards them, lure them in with our good looks and then BAM! We attack."

I burst out into hysterics, and received some strange looks. "Mar, these guys are our students, we can't do that!"

"Yes you can. It'll teach them strategy and using advantages."

I rolled my eyes, knowing I'd already lost that fight, and we turned back to the ring, where the boys were waiting patiently.

We stare at each other for a few seconds, us girls running our fingers through our hair somewhat sexily. Uriah seemed distracted, but Tobias just rolled his eyes.

"Begin!"

Tobias lunged at Christina and Uriah lunged at me, leaving Marlene to jump on Tobias's back whilst I dealt with Uriah. I twisted out of his strange hug attack and put my mouth next to his ear.

"Hey handsome," I said loudly, the audience gasping and laughing.

Uriah snorted, "Six, you have a boyfriend!" He shouted back, an even louder chorus of jeers erupting from the crowd, and I brought my knee up to his lower spine and repeatedly jabbed at him, until his face contorted and he lashed out at me, his hand smashing against my cheek. I winced.

Uriah tried to sweep my legs out from underneath me, and whilst he was off balance, I quickly grabbed his other leg and practically threw him out of the ring, at Christina, who was laughing and watching from afar.

Looking over at Marlene, Tobias was just smirking as he knocked and dodged all of Marlene's attacks with ease, only leading to her further frustration. Whilst he was occupied with grabbing Marlene's leg, I leapt onto Tobias's back, wrapped my arms around his neck, dragging him backwards to a painful landing underneath him. It hurt immensely to be crushed by a much bigger man – and the 'ooohs' from the audience agreed - , but it was totally worth it because Marlene immediately started to throttle Tobias.

I crawled out from underneath Tobias, and apologised to a laughing face before kicking him in the head. I tugged Marlene off my boyfriend and helped him up, before Marlene dramatically bowed and dismissed the initiates.

 _ **It must have been two months since I started writing this chapter, but I got a bit bored, then broke my laptop, and I would have been too annoyed at myself if I just stopped uploading, so here you go!**_

 _ **I hated that chapter – writing in past tense for the fighting scenes was so clumsy, and I keep calling 'Tobias' by 'Four' by accident.**_

 _ **Anyyyyywayyyyy I've also been revising for end of year exams and I got a job and started more clubs so my schedule is very busy, but I have decided that is what the early hours of day are for.**_

 _ **-Flucy**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**And we are back! And I am already apologising for being unfaithful and neglecting you guys. I did start work on a new fic, which is requiring a lot of research and may never be uploaded, but shush.**_

 _ **I have been busy with school and work – I got a job! – but I do really try to write every now and then, but answer me this:**_

 _ **Would you prefer rather long (5,000 word) chapters, perhaps every fortnight, couple of weeks or so, or would you prefer short (1,000 – 2,000 words) chapters? Long chapters are much easier to write, and often the plot develops more, but it is really your decision. –Flucy – 4**_ _ **th**_ _ **of June, 2016**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I literally hate this chapter; it is fucking horrendous.**_

 _ **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters.**_

 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

As soon as Marlene dismissed the initiates and they scrambled out of our sight – after Tobias glared at them, and Marlene yelled – we all form a huddle.

"I am getting way to into this!" Exclaims Marlene happily, hopping from one foot to the other.

Christina places a steady hand on her shoulder. "Mar. Stop."

Sinking back to her feet, Marlene mews sadly, yet somehow managing to find a grin to hold back. Christina rolls her eyes and turns to Tobias, who had come up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. Uriah looks at us weirdly and Tobias sighs.

"This will never look normal, will it?" He asks, nestling his face into my short hair. I smile and look up at him, then turn my attention back to Uriah who was pretending to vomit.

"It doesn't even feel normal for me, Uri," I point out, which resulted in Tobias snorting and rubbing my shoulder.

"I can second that."

We all stay quiet for a second, looking around the room, as if we were looking for something. My eyes land on Marlene.

"Hey, Marlene," I say, escaping Tobias's grasp. He stands next to me. "Where is Lynn today?"

Marlene lets out a heavy breath and rubs her forehead with one hand before meeting my eyes. "I know where she is, but it really isn't my secret to share."

I nod. Marlene is good at judging when she is out of line, unlike other people, unlike the Candor, but when it concerns fearless Lynn, the girl that hated me, the girl that shaved her head just to prove a point, something must really be wrong.

Uriah clasps his hands together. "I don't know about you guys," he says, before quickly adding, "nor do I really care, but I am starving."

Marlene elbows him. "Then go get dinner then. Because we don't care about you, either."

"I wish you hadn't said that, Marlene," says Christina, "because I have to agree with you by default, but I'm really hungry and getting dinner too."

Marlene pauses. "I said nothing; let's go."

We start to walk towards the exit to the training room, Marlene and Christina jogging in front of me, talking about something that I don't really understand. Behind me, Tobias and Uriah laugh about something, and I look at them strangely. Uriah shrugs, grinning widely, and Tobias is trying not to grin, but it doesn't really work, and in this moment, I couldn't be happier. I have great friends, a great life, and I'm glad I chose Dauntless.

I remember thinking about following Caleb to Erudite, or staying in Abnegation, but I wouldn't have met these people. I'd have never met Four. Or the Tobias I know now. And I would have always known him as the boy that might have been beaten, but seeing him behind me with Uriah's arm on his shoulder, throwing his head back in laughter, I know he is more than that.

"What do you guys find so hilarious?" I ask, turning around to face them, stumbling down the corridor, taking tentative backwards steps in the direction of Christina's loud voice.

"Uriah is just being an idiot," Tobias fills in for me, smiling. His expression darkens a bit, and he frowns, but I don't acknowledge it.

"When isn't he being an idiot?" I snort, but Tobias isn't looking at me anymore, and I turn back around and face the way I'm headed to see Peter stood with a group of boys. It takes a moment for me to recognise them as Mitch and Corbin, and to my slight surprise, Tiff, who is rubbing Peter's biceps flirtatiously.

After their fight, I thought Corbin might be staying away from Mitch, but I guess his reputation precedes him. He is one of the bad guys now, whether he likes it or not.

"Tris," Peter greets me. If I didn't know better, I would have thought he was being nice.

"Peter," I say bluntly, my voice flat.

"How _are_ you, Tris?" The sarcasm is thick in his voice.

I stop to look at him. Two can play at this sickly sweet game of being good people. "I'm just spiffing," I spit. "How are _you_ , Peter?"

Tobias and Uriah have caught up with me and put on their instructor faces. The initiates haven't done anything. They just watch us, Mitch smirking, Corbin just milling about, looking at the floor.

"Thank you for asking, Tris. I am brilliant."

Tobias and Uriah stand in front of me, protectively. Tobias has a grave face.

"It was lovely seeing you, Peter," Tobias remarks rudely, "but we really must be going." He places a hand on my arm and ushers me out of the way, glaring at Peter. Uriah just stares.

"Until soon, Tris," Peter calls after us. "Until soon."

I shudder.

"What was that about?" Uriah asks worriedly.

I shake my head. "Peter just being an idiot."

"A pansycake."

I stare at Uriah, incredulous. He might not know what Tobias told me, but for once, I don't appreciate his chipper and jokey attitude about everything. I think about snapping at him, but it isn't worth it.

"Yes, Uriah. He was just being a pansycake."

We walk in silence to the dining hall, Tobias staying close to me at all times, Uriah trailing behind us a few paces. I push open the door to the dining hall and quickly find a table with Christina and Marlene.

"Can you get me some food, Four?" I ask Tobias, and he nods, scampering off to the queue. I watch his as he piles things onto a tray.

Uriah rolls his eyes and takes my wrist and pulls me towards the table. I slide onto the bench and pick at a cuticle, thinking, zoning out, ignoring Christina and whatever she is saying, ignoring the general sounds of the dining hall, ignoring whatever is tapping me, and just ignoring everything. I shut out people saying numbers that mean nothing to me and just think. I have sat here before. Why am I worried? I've had run-ins with Peter before that have left me shaken, but when hasn't someone protected me? I feel like something bad is going to happen. What am I talking about? I can't predict the future. I need to calm down.

"Beatrice?"

I shoot out of my daze and look up at the person who said my name. Tobias stares down at me with a scared face. He never looks scared. I try and smile and furrow my brow.

" _Beatrice_?" I retort.

"You weren't responding to anything else," Christina chimes in, popping a piece of cake into her mouth. She doesn't look as concerned, but her expression hints at it. "We were practically yelling at you."

"I was yelling 'Six, Six, Siiiiiix, but you were still not paying attention so then I started yelling 'Four, Four, Foouuur, and then Four came over," Uriah explains. "Then Four came over, obviously, because he knows his name."

I raise my eyebrows disbelievingly.

Christina nods. "You weren't responding whatsoever. Not even to when Uriah was flicking your cheek. You totally spaced out. Are you okay?"

 _No_ , is my initial reaction, but instead I give an encouraging simper and shrug. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" The shaky laugh I end with doesn't even convince me.

"I'll take your word for it," says Marlene, much to my relief, who hadn't said much during this whole episode. "Anyway, what's your verdict: which would go best with cake: whipped cream, strawberries, or caramel?"

I laugh. "Depends on the cake."

Tobias shuffles in next to me, and gives me a roll to eat. I mutter a quick 'thanks' and tuck in.

"How did we not think of that Marlene?" Uriah exclaims excitedly and I roll my eyes, chuckling.

Tobias puts his mouth close to my ear. "I don't think you're fine."

I don't know if I'm glad that Tobias knows me this well, or worried because he knows me better than I know myself. I turn to face him.

"I'm _fine_." I regret my choice of words instantly. It doesn't take an Erudite to figure out that I am anything but fine. In fact, I am terrified, and even more terrified of the fact that I don't know what of.

Tobias sighs and bows his head. "I'm not going to win this argument here, am I?" He shakes his head. "Can you meet me at my apartment later?"

I shove the roll in my pocket.

"I can come now."

I stand up and brush crumbs off my shirt onto the floor.

"Bye guys," I say to Christina and Uriah, Marlene having seemingly vanished.

Christina raises her eyebrows.

"We have work to do!" I reason.

"Is there any maths involved?"

"What?"

"Will you be doing any maths?"

"Christina, what are you on about? Are you drunk?"

"No," she says. "I just want to know if you are doing any maths."

I fumble for words. What is she talking about? "I, um, maybe? I don't know."

"Any, I don't know, _multiplication_?" She wiggles her eyebrows and it dawns on me as soon as Uriah bursts into fits of laughter, and I can't help the brush that creeps onto my cheeks, which only adds to the amount of noise emanating from the table.

I can't help but chuckle a little bit, and Tobias and I start to walk towards the exit of the dining hall, my hands glued to my thighs to stop myself from grabbing his hand. I look up at him.

He smiles at me, somewhat sadly, and I worry for a moment that I'm going to panic about a problem that I don't even have again. _It must be the Peter thing,_ I tell myself. But I still need to focus on something to reassure myself that the world is still the same as I remember. The Dauntless compound is as loud as ever, Christina is as chatty as ever, and Tobias's eyes are as blue as ever. Tobias looks over at me, back into my eyes, and I smile.

It's just a bad day.

We keep walking in a comfortable quietness, or at least as quiet as it gets in the Dauntless dining room, until a loud voice disturbs us.

"TEN!"

I look at Tobias. "Is that us?"

"Yup."

We spin around and see Tori charging across the room, darting in and out of people, and it is hard not to chuckle. I share a glance with Tobias, and he is biting his lip to refrain from laughing. Today has been a day full of giggles and I don't know what to make of it.

Tori runs over to us and all the initiates are watching. Tori is panting, almost as if she had run through the whole compound. _Twice_.

"I've been looking for you guys literally everywhere! I swear to God, I must have run through the compound, like, a million times," Tori wheezes through fragmented breaths.

"And can we ask why?" Tobias asks, and then eyes the initiates. "And please bear in mind that we have to teach these people tomorrow," he quickly adds.

"Okay," says Tori, "so I can't do anything embarrassing, right?"

"Yep, though I guess that might be hard for you, considering you just screamed our name and charged at us. Why did you yell 'Ten', anyway?"

Tori shrugs casually. "Everyone else calls you Fourtris, and I wanted to be different." Tori bites her lip. "Whatever, it doesn't matter."

"So did you need us or what?" Tobias snaps impatiently, rolling his eyes.

Tori remains calm, almost like a former Amity would, though I know she was a former Erudite, not Amity. "Calm down, Four. And besides, it isn't about you, anyway, I just wanted to see if you responded to 'Ten'. Tris."

I nod. "That's my name…"

"Thanks for confirming that," Tori laughs, "but I already knew. I just thought like telling you that Max was talking about you earlier, whilst I was tattooing him. I wouldn't be surprised if he was offering you a leadership position."

Tori's volume increases drastically as she mentions the leadership position, and when heads turn, I feel myself blushing violently, for probably the third time today.

"We don't know if that's why he needs to see me."

"But it's a hell of a shot in the dark."

"Maybe."

"Probably."

"Shut up, Tori."

She smirks at me. "Well good luck, by any means. See you later, bitches."

Tori waves, then sprints off, running across tables to avoid a large crowd circling a fight. She dashes of to the right, the skids to a stop, before darting in the other direction. I roll my eyes. Only Tori.

The initiates look around in awe. Mekhi just grins knowingly, and Jamie elbows him in the gut, which makes him yelp in both surprise and pain. I overhear a conversation between some of the transfers whilst Tobias and I slowly continue to walk.

"Now I'm legit terrified of her. She's bloody fearless."

"And you weren't scared of her in the first place?"

"Well of course I was, but now I'm _more_ scared."

"I think even Mitch and his cronies are frightened of Six."

"I don't think she's scared of anything."

"To be requested for leadership, she probably isn't."

I smile triumphantly. _Ha,_ I think _they fear me! Good._

 _ **==Pagebreaking with practised ease==**_

As soon as the door to the dining hall shuts, Tobias spins me around and presses me to the wall, planting his lips firmly on mine, his blue eyes filled with fire and lust and passion. I'm momentarily taken aback, but it doesn't take long for me to reply with the same devotion. My fingers thread through his hair and get tangled in his shirt, and one of his hands stays clamped around my hip, whilst the other traces my spine, making me shive. We stay like this for minutes. Eventually he pulls away for air, but keeps me enclosed in a cage of toned arms, his forehead pressing against mine.

"I've been waiting to do that all day," he murmurs seductively.

I grin. "I could tell."

I am so distracted, that I don't notice Zeke and Shauna watching us, grinning. Zeke wolf whistles and howls with laughter, whilst Shauna contains giggles and smacks her boyfriend's arm. They finally confessed their feelings for each other in a game of truth or dare. Not the most intimate way to proclaim love, but nevertheless, it worked all the same. They've been an item for six months now.

As soon as I realise they have been stood there watching for the whole time, my eyes widen in alarm and Tobias reddens. I'm sure my cheeks have turned a rosy crimson too. Tobias pulls away from me and I bury my face in my hands, humiliated.

"Awww, is Trissy sad now?" Mocks Zeke, earning another swipe from Shauna. He chuckles. "Relax, I think we were the only ones who saw your little feast."

"You better be," Tobias growls in a playful manner.

Zeke raises his eyebrows. "Or what, number boy?"

"Or else."

"Oooh, threatening!" Zeke chortles, and Shauna takes a step away from him.

"I don't want to get in the way when Four beats Zeke to a pulp!" Shauna explains, and Zeke opens his mouth, offended.

"You're my girlfriend, you aren't meant to say that!"

"Watch me."

Zeke hold his hands up in surrender. "I submit. I submit."

My mouth drops open. "Does Zeke Pedrad actually concede?" I ask in satirizing tone. Then I get much louder. "PANSYCAKE."

In under a minute, Uriah bursts through the door. "Who's the pansycake? Who's the pansycake!" Uriah looks flustered, then notices me Tobias stood off to the side, and does a full body scan of both of us.

"Did you have dessert without me?" He asks with a cheeky wink. I gape.

"You didn't just do that," I snarl friskily.

"You're right, I didn't."

Zeke groans. "You're as bad as me! I just conceded to a potential fight, too."

Uriah's attention snaps to his brother. "Pansycake!"

Uriah then launches at Zeke and they wrestle on the floor, Shauna cheering them on. Tobias places a hand on my hip and guides me away from the fight, and we wander down the corridor, shirts still ruffled, remnants of red still evident in our cheeks.

We arrive in good time at Tobias's apartment, and I slip off my shoes on his small door mat, before pootling over to the sofa next to a tall fake plant, slumping down into the cosy leather fabric. Tobias locks the door and sinks down next to me.

He sighs. "Are you going to tell me what's up now?" He asks, flashing me the most sympathetic look I think he can physically manage. I shrug.

"Honestly, I don't think _I_ know what's wrong with me," I say, looking at my feet. "It might be the Peter thing, it might be something else, or it might just be a bad day. We all have them."

He shakes his head. "I don't think it's that. We'll figure it out, though." He sees me staring at my feet and puts two fingers under my chin, titling my head upwards. I hope my eyes aren't as teary as they feel. "Hey," he says sternly. "You will be fine."

I nod. "I know. I know I will be."

He quickly pecks me on the lips. "If you feel as worried as you look, you are doing a fabulous job of hiding it," Tobias says, grinning. "I mean, did you _hear_ what the initiates were saying?"

I snigger a little bit. "They were terrified of me!" I chirp. "Now I know how everyone feels when they see you!"

"Oi," he says, "not everyone is scared of me."

"Name three people who aren't."

"Okay, there's you-,"

"Mm that's debatable," I tease, nudging him lightly.

"Oh, please, you adore me," he replies cockily.

"That's also debatable."

He rolls his eyes. "So far I have you, Zeke." I open my mouth but he holds his finger up to shush me. "And… Christina."

"Christina is still scared of you, Tobias."

"No she isn't."

I laugh. "Yes, she really is."

"Okay fine then. Shauna."

"You know, I'm fine with that," I submit. "But there literally is nobody else.

"Nope."

"Maybe it's because you're a bully."

"Probably."

 _ **++Such a bad chapter. Sorry. PAGEBREAK++**_

I head back to the apartment a few hours later, after finding out from a note slipped under Tobias's door telling me Christina was staying at Marlene's apartment for a while, to explain her situation with Will. It must be around nine o'clock when I finally settle down back home, and I'm startled when somebody knocks on the door.

Hesitantly, I answer it, and see Max standing there, but not wearing the expression of having the honour to give the position of a leader to someone, but a grave, ill face. He looks tired. His eyes have sunk back into his head.

I open the door fully for him and he silently slips in, standing off to one side whilst I close the door behind him. He wears a smart black suit, as if he came from a meeting with someone important. The only people as important as him, though, are other leaders.

He runs a hand over his shaved head, then straightens his black blazer jacket, taking his time. What is he trying to delay?

"I think you should sit down, Tris."

"I can stand."

"I think you need to sit down."

 _ **I hated that chapter as much as you did. I couldn't figure out what to write about, so I skipped out the filler chapter and went straight to this, and honestly, it became really shitty. Really, really shitty. But next chapter, something WILL happen.**_

 _ **SPOILER: If you like injuries and the painful or slightly depressing scenes, next chapter will be right up your street.**_

 _ **-Flucy.**_


	17. Chapter 17

**_I won't make you wait. (Anymore). –Flucy_**

 ** _I SWEAR IN THIS CHAPTER BY THE WAY! SORRY!_**

 ** _DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her characters._**

 ** _Tobias's P.O.V_**

I haven't seen Tris since she left my apartment last night, and as Christina, Uriah, Lynn and I all patiently wait for her, my worry grows. She wasn't at anybody's apartment last night – we even checked Shauna and Zeke's apartment – and none of us have seen her. Christina mentioned something about Max leaving their apartment last night, muttering something, but we still aren't any wiser. We thought she was going to be offered leadership from him, but if that were the case, we wouldn't be in this situation.

The initiates are all gathered in the centre of the Pit, chattering and causing a ruckus as usual, and despite my annoyance, I can't summon any care to complain. My palms are sweaty and I'm drained of all energy. I slip off the table I'm sat on. We can't wait for Tris any longer today – we're already behind schedule.

"We need to begin," I murmur to Christina, who nods and walks away, beginning to announce the plan to the initiates. As my eyes wander helplessly, I can't help but feel the room is caving in on me, the steep, jagged rocks that line the walls like cliffs are cowering over me, clawing at me, when they should be standing proud. And the noise coming from the initiates is getting worse because Christina and the other instructors can't control them, and it is getting unbearable. This many people shouldn't be speaking at the same time. I can't focus. My lungs scream for air.

"Enough!"

I've yelled before the word even registers in my mind, and everyone looks a blend of startled and scared. Christina looks terrified, Lynn and Uriah look shocked. I'm too astonished myself to find anything to say, so I don't open my mouth. I don't even try.

I pace over to a small gap between Uriah and Lynn, trying to be leisurely, but each step I take is too precise and tense and awkward.

"Right," I gulp. I clear my throat. "We'll be doing more fights today. The fight lists have already been organised and posted in the training room, so if you've decided to shut up now, we can leave."

My facade is slipping. I'm not being Four anymore, and being anyone else is too dangerous for someone like me. I storm out of the room, not risking any clever remarks or witty comments. I'm too angry to be trying to think. I stride purposefully down the hall so nobody can walk with me, but I still notice a tail in my peripheral vision.

"Dude, calm down," someone says from behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder and I whip around. Uriah. Looking concerned.

"And how do you propose I do that, Uriah?" I snap. "My girlfriend is missing."

Uriah rolls his eyes. "Seriously, she might just be taking the day off." He says it as if it is obvious, common knowledge and I need to punch something so I don't punch him.

I can't blame him from thinking this. No matter how hard I try, I know this isn't his fault. He isn't aware of Peter's plan. Now isn't the time to be picking a fight. There are more important matters to be focusing on, so I shake my head and continue walking.

The journey down the corridors is tedious and silent, a trip so easy and thoughtless that my exhaustion doesn't seem appropriate. I suck in a breath as I turn down another corridor, as if trying to make my body smaller, and I hunch over instinctively. This hallway feels cramped.

I am the first to arrive at the training room by a long while and I lean against the door, running a hand through my hair and tugging it, grasping the fine hair that covers my scalp nervously. I let out a deep sigh and when the corridor is silent again, I hear noises from inside: flesh hitting punching bags; grunts of exertion; sobbing. This door is locked and can only be unlocked by instructors. Instructors only. The pieces fit together in my mind.

I slot my rusted key into the lock and the door creaks open. I wince. I didn't want to draw attention to myself. Silently, I slip into the training room, pushing the door closed behind me. A girl with tightly cropped blonde hair weakly beats a punching bag. Exhausted. Tris.

I begin to walk over to Tris who has managed not to notice me, or at least acknowledge me. I'm only a few metres away from her when she spins around with her fists raised and my hands instantly fly up in submission and I quickly take a step back. I can see Tris's knuckles; bloodied and split. She must have forgotten to wrap them. And she must have been here all night.

"Tris," I breathe, and walk towards her. Her hands lower and she's shaking but doesn't cower away from me. Instead, when I finally get lose enough, she collapses onto me sobbing violently and pressing her head into my chest, wet tears soaking my shirt. I'm taken aback for a moment but then enclose her in my arms. I wrap one arm around her waist and the other pulls her head in close to me.

"I'm sorry Tobias," she murmurs into my neck, "I'm so sorry."

I pull away and wipe a tear from her cheek with my thumb and she looks up at me. "There is nothing to be sorry for. But let's get those hands cleaned up before we talk about anything, yeah?"

Tris furrows her brow before pulling away completely, whipping her hands out in front of her. Her eyes widen in alarm when she sees the state of them and she spins around to face the bag, twizzling it on the hook and staring at the stains she's left on the fabric. She curses under her breath.

I sigh. Placing my palm on the small of her back, I guide her towards the door just as Christina, Lynn and Uriah appear, laughing. They notice Tris and darken. They direct the initiates towards the opposite corner of the room, yet they still watch us, regardless of Uriah and Lynn's attempts to divert the attention. I glare at them, but Tris doesn't even care.

I lead Tris over to the exit and we are right in the centre of room when two people I never wanted to see again burst through the door. Jeanine. And Eric. Eric is a criminal – he's supposed to be in jail. Why is he here?

They stroll up to us, smirking and I tense. I can sense all eyes on us.

"Four. Tris," Eric greets us with a sneer. Jeanine shoots him a look, but he doesn't shrink.

"Beatrice," Jeanine says. She doesn't say it particularly loudly, but her voice echoes throughout the room over to the initiates who all look around at each other. _Did you know? Her name is Beatrice? Not very Dauntless._

"Jeanine," Tris attempts, her voice wavering.

Jeanine simpers. "I'm sure you heard of your brother, Caleb Prior's death."

I pale. Her brother died. It isn't a wonder Tris is so furious and upset. My hand that is still on her back clamps around her hip. To reassure her or to stop her from lashing out though, I don't know. Out of the corner of my eye I see Christina start towards us.

"Yes, I am aware," Tris sputters. "As of last night."

Jeanine's forehead creases in confusion. "But he died eight days ago. Were you not told straight away?"

Eric's sneer grows and I resist the urge to punch him.

"No. That's why I'm so pissed."

"As in drunk?"

"As in want-to-fucking-kill-everyone. That kind of pissed off."

Eric snorts with laughter and Tris snaps her attention to him.

"And why are you here _Eric_?" She spits his name like venom, full of hatred. She wrestles out of my grip and jabs a finger at his chest. "You're meant to be in prison. For a twenty year sentence."

Eric chortles.

"I wanted to see how you and those lovely scars I gave you are," he says, running his thumb across the marks in her face and I hear gasps from the initiates. Tris smacks him around the face and before he can antagonise her more or return the gesture, I grab Tris by both shoulders and yank her back. She lets out a small yelp of pain and I immediately feel guilty. Eric lets out a hollow laugh.

"Are you still with that child?" He cackles, running a hand through his hair. Before I can realise what is happening, Tris launches herself at Eric, knocking him roughly to the ground. She is so much stronger than she once was. Tris lands on top of Eric and gets him in a choke hold with one hand and punches him with the other – fist to the jaw, nose, neck. I watch Eric get pummelled by 'that child' before lightly tugging on Tris's shoulder. She promptly leaps backwards, but not before painfully kicking Eric in the head. Eric groans and rolls onto his side in a foetal position.

Tris huffs. "Well, _that child_ is clearly a much better fighter than you are," she snorts with a gleam in her eye. Satisfaction? Danger? No. _Pleasure_.

Eric, still on the floor, attempts to stick his middle finger up. Tris laughs sadistically and jumps on his hand; she breaks his fingers.

"Beatrice," Jeanine says calmly from aside. She must have stepped away. "That wasn't very appropriate, was it? It doesn't matter anyway. I came here to tell you that your brother died because of his own incompetence. He was clumsy and fell whilst handling very dangerous chemicals that killed him. It was your brother's own fault he died."

Tris raises her hand to slap Jeanine but I manage to grab her wrist before she does anything she might regret. Tris wrenches her arm from my grasp and jabs her fingers at Jeanine's neck.

"Don't you _dare_ insult my brother. He was a better person than you ever could be," she yells, her face flushing red with anger.

Jeanine smiles cruelly. "If that were the case, he wouldn't be dead, would he?"

Tris scoffs. She quickly lunges forward and knees Jeanine in the stomach before bolting out of the room. And I don't try and stop her.

"Tris!" Christina yells, using Six's real name, racing after her. I simply watch.

I step over Eric and a hunched over Jeanine and stand in front of them, looking at the initiates, who are all watching me, some horrified, others surprised, and some with malice in their eyes. Kate looks like she's about to pass out.

I clear my throat. "Dauntless teaches you to be fearless, not emotionless."

I cock my head at Uriah and Lynn, who scamper after me when I make for the door. I grasp the handle and hold open the door for Uriah and Lynn who both exit and feeling a sudden bitterness, I decide to add:

"Class dismissed."

And then I throw the door open and leave. Uriah and Lynn are stood waiting for me, both with grave faces and worried expressions.

"Did you know?" Uriah asks me weakly.

Lynn snorts. "Do you think we'd be in this situation if he did?"

Uriah sighs and shakes his head. He stay like this for a minute before Christina comes charging down the corridor.

"I lost her. I lost her," she pants.

"Then let's start looking again."

 ** _Honestly, I'm not very happy with this chapter. It didn't turn out how I'd hoped but you don't always get what you want. Sorry for the wait and terrible chapter. I'm not feeling inspired._**

 ** _-Flucy_**


	18. Chapter 18

**EDIT: This story won't be up for adoption! SORRY I CHANGED MY MIND -Flucy**

 **EDIT: I HAVE REWRITTEN THIS CHAPTER! 27/08/2016 (27th August, America.)**

 **Thank you so much writingvibes for inspiring me to keep writing! Keep reviewing for faster updates guys!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her ideas.**

 **Tris's P.O.V**

I smudge a stray tear across my cheek with the back of my hand as I charge down the corridor, slipping down hallways to avoid being seen. Christina's voice echoes after me, bouncing off the walls of the compound. For Dauntless, it's surprisingly quiet, only a few voices murmuring in the distance – not that the lack of people bothers me. If anything, I'm glad. No one can see me like this. _Weak. Vulnerable._ I shiver at the thought.

Turning down an empty, unlit pathway, I slump to the ground, burying my face in my knees to muffle my sobs. I can only think of Caleb and how he's dead. My brother that died. A cry escapes my lips and I let my head loll back against the wall, my breaths hitching in my throat. I think back to when we were eight. He was so small and innocent and had done nothing wrong in life and he was comforting my mother when she broke her arm and he was just so _young_ and he did nothing to deserve this and I can't breathe.

I choke back a sob and shakily exhale, blinking salty tears back. I need to compose myself.

"Five," I mouth silently to myself, screwing my eyes shut. _My brother died._

"Four." Four. Tobias. _Tobias!_ I didn't tell him about this! He'll be so upset that I didn't trust him enough to tell him and Christina will think I've betrayed her and I have ruined everything. This is my fault. How will I explain any of this to him, to anyone?

"Three." My hands hurt.

"Two." Things will never be okay.

"One." Yes they will. I can work this out. I can talk to people and I can figure this out.

"Tris," someone mumbles from a few feet away. I jump in shock, scrambling to my feet and sprinting in the other direction. I am in no way to face somebody in this state. Barely a few metres away somebody latches onto my shoulder from behind me. Yelping, I thrust my elbow backwards and smash into something, a satisfying crunch resounding from my target. "Ow, shit, Tris!"

Spinning around quickly, I raise my fists defensively and see Tobias doubled-over, clutching at his face, blood seeping between his fingers and dribbling down his arms. His eyes flicker up to meet mine, pained and almost teary and I gasp, horrified. My hands, also covered in blood from my split knuckles, fly to my face to cover my open mouth. Another tear runs down my face.

"I'm so-I'm-I'm so, so sorry, Tobias," I whimper, stumbling backwards slightly, still in shock as to what I've just done. Tobias shakes his head and straightens up, one hand still cupped under his nose. He huffs out a laugh and gives me a small smile.

"Tris," he starts, taking a tentative step towards me. "You've done nothing to be sorry for."

I stare at him incredulously. "What?"

"You heard me," he splutters, wiping blood that trickled down to his lips. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

"I just broke your bloody nose," I point out breathlessly. _How have I done nothing wrong?_

He chuckles shyly. "I guess it serves me right for sneaking up on someone with good reflexes."

I half-nod.

Tobias looks into my eyes again. "Tris—"

I cut him off as I tackle him into a hug, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and nestling my face into his chest. He stumbles back a few steps before wrapping an arm around my waist. I mumble apologies against his chest as more tears run down my cheek and he tells me everything will be okay and I believe him. We stay like this for a few minutes before Tobias clears his throat.

"I'm getting blood on your shirt."

"I'm getting tears on your shirt."

"I'll buy you a new shirt."

"So will I."

Tobias laughs. "Tears don't stain, though."

"I'll buy you a new shirt anyway," I grin, tugging myself out of his embrace. "Sorry about your nose," I say.

He smiles lightly. "All things heal," he says wisely and we stare into each other's eyes, but not with lust. Not with romantic sentiment. We stare into each other's eyes _knowingly_ , silently agreeing with each other, and I know at that very moment that everything will be okay.

And then I remember his face is bleeding which ruins the moment a bit.

 _ **+++How do I do Pagebreaks again?+++**_

Both my hands are now covered in bandages. I was beating the punching bags so hard that I badly fractured my knuckles, and they were split so badly that Tobias mentioned helpfully to the nurse attending to me that they would probably never heal if they weren't covered. I glared at him.

Tobias and I sat side by side in the hospital lobby waiting to be told we can leave when the door on our left suddenly bursts open, Christina, Uriah and Lynn all bursting in.

"Tris!" Christina exclaims, jogging over to where we sat. Subtly, Tobias moves his hand from the back of my chair to the small of my back and starts to rub in small, soothing circles.

"Hey, guys," I say a bit croakily, quickly clearing my throat. My face isn't as raw from crying but my eyes were still teary but I put on a brave face anyway.

"Are you okay?" Christina asks worriedly, picking my hands up in hers and inspecting them, turning them over in her palms to examine the damage.

I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm only in bandages because _somebody_ ," I say, pointedly looking at Tobias, who just grins, "practically asked for me to be put in them."

Lynn snorts. "Four! How dare you?" She chuckles mock-angrily, slapping a hand to her heart. He only shrugs.

"It was probably for the best," Tobias points out.

"Ha, yeah, you got that right! Maybe I won't get attacked by her as much anymore," jokes Uriah, running a hand over his head.

"That was ONE time, Uriah," I respond cheerily, trying to keep the mood as light as possible.

"It still happened."

"You sneaked up on me!"

"And you battered me," he remarks wittily before glancing over at Tobias. "And by the looks of things, Four, too."

I rolled my eyes.

"It served me right," Four admits.

Christina clears her throat.

"No but in all seriousness, are you alright?" She asks warily, looking me straight in the eye.

I open my mouth to say something, and then close it again. I smile weakly and nod once. "I'm alright."

Christina reciprocates the smile, still slightly unsure. She plonks herself down in the seat next to me and sighs as she shuts her eyes and puts her head back. She stretches her long legs out and hooks her foot around a coffee table with a jug of water and some magazines on before tugging it towards her, effectively making herself a leg rest.

Lynn raises her eyebrows. "Comfortable?" She asks sarcastically walking over to the seats opposite us and sitting down, Uriah in tow.

"I don't know how much longer we'll be here for, I might as well sleep," Christina mumbles, shifting in her seat.

A nurse dressed in black with three piercings in her eyebrow walks up to reception with a few papers and signs something.

"No point," Tobias says abruptly. I turn and look at him furrowing my brow.

"Why not?" Christina demands, pulling an offended look.

"Because that is our nurse, and she is just about to tell us we can leave," he says, pushing himself to his feet and helping me up with him, dipping his head towards the nurse signing papers at the front desk. She looks over at us.

"Four? Tris? You can leave now."

Tobias smirks at Christina. "Case closed."

Christina's eyes widen in shock and she jumps to her feet, bounding over to me. "Your boyfriend reads minds," she stage whispers, cautiously eyeing Tobias, who quirks his eyebrow.

"Maybe it's just that he isn't stupid," Uriah says, standing up and wandering over to us.

"So not like you then," Lynn retorts, earning a high five from Christina.

Uriah shoots her a look. "I don't need to be smart to get girls I just need to be sassy and fabulous – like I already am."

Lynn stares blankly at him. "You're single."

"That's beside the point."

"No it isn't."

"How?"

"You haven't got a girl, therefore you aren't sassy _or_ fabulous."

"Screw you, Lynn."

"Please don't, Uriah."

 **-Penguins paralyze piranhas-**

I lie face down on Tobias's sofa as soon as the door to his apartment opens. I groan. I don't want to be seen by anyone.

"You're going to have to see the initiates in a couple of hours," Tobias says, tossing his keys into a glass bowl on the counter.

I groan again.

"We dismissed them from training as soon as you left. I don't know what happened to them," Tobias informs me, padding into the kitchenette and putting the kettle on.

"Let's hope Jeanine and Eric didn't get to them," I mutter, my voice partially muffled by cushions.

"God, that'd be awful."

"Yup."

I stay face down on the sofa whilst the kettle boils and I can hear Tobias making two mugs of something. He lets out a heavy breath before wandering back into the living space and putting one of the mugs on the table in front of me. I don't raise my head, feeling particularly irritable.

"I didn't ask for tea," I say bluntly.

"It's a good thing I didn't make you tea."

"I didn't ask for coffee either."

"It's a good thing I didn't make you coffee, then."

I roll over onto my side and inspect the mug of brown, steaming liquid. "You made me hot chocolate?"

"I made you hot chocolate," he laughs, sliding onto the sofa next me as I sit upright. I pick up the mug – my favourite one – and blow lightly on it.

"Christina was right."

"About what?" Tobias asks.

"You _do_ read minds," I grin, slowly sipping at the chocolatey goodness. As an arm snakes around my waist and rests on my hip, comforting warmth spreads through me.

"Maybe I'm just a really good boyfriend that knows you very well," he mumbles, kissing at my neck. I laugh and nudge him gently in the ribs.

"I'm trying to drink something here!"

He murmurs 'I don't care' under his breath but retreats back to his spot anyway, picking up his own mug of hot chocolate. It's times like these that I remember that he's just a few months older than being teenager; when he's sat drinking his hot chocolate, snuggled up against his girlfriend – that's when you remember how old he is.

We finish our drinks in contented silence, humming in appreciation every once in a while. I place my mug back on a coaster as soon as it's empty and lean back into Tobias's chest, shutting my eyes. He places a hard on my arm and rubs it back and forth before sighing sadly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He eventually asks and I screw my face up and purse my lips, as if I've sucked something sour.

"Not really."

"Okay."

My mind flashes back to the conversation I had with Max last night and how badly I'd responded.

" _I think you should sit down, Tris."_

" _I can stand."_

" _I think you need to sit down."_

 _Max sighs and invites himself into the flat, pushing past me._

" _Yeah, come in, come in," I mutter sarcastically, closing the door behind me and taking a seat at the breakfast bar. I gesture at the seat opposite me. "I'd offer you a seat but you'd take one anyway, regardless of whether I give you permission," I say flippantly, taking a swig of the glass of water in front of me._

 _Max rolls his eyes and folds his hands behind his back, rocking backwards and forwards on his heels. Max isn't an especially tall man. He's stocky but well-built but height is definitely not an advantage he has, like me._

" _I hate having to do this," he admits pacing towards me and leaning against the counter._

 _Impatience getting the better of me, I snap at him. "Do what! I don't read minds. Spit it out, I'm in a hurry."_

 _Max furrows his brow. "You have ice in your glass – you aren't in a hurry."_

 _I stare at him incredulously. "Maybe I just like ice, you Erudite," I remark rudely, taking another gulp. Getting told you belong to another faction is one of the worst insults you can receive when you've lived in Dauntless all your life._

 _Max bristles before clears his throat. "I'm here on instructions from Jeanine."_

" _I'm already looking out for Divergents," I lie easily._

 _Max shakes his head. "That's not why I'm here. Besides, they are no longer of concern to us." He bites his lip. "This is about your brother, Caleb."_

 _I pale and quickly spin around on my seat, placing my glass back on the countertop and pushing it away from me. "What about him? He's in Erudite now."_

" _Actually, he's back in Abnegation."_

" _What?!" I shout jumping to my feet and walking briskly over to him, getting up in his face to intimidate him. He looks vaguely wary._

" _He was sent back to Abnegation a few days ago," Max explains, avoiding eye contacts with me._

" _Why?!" I exclaim, staring him dead in the eye._

 _Max hesitates. "Do you remember when you first were accepted into Dauntless and you chose where you wanted your funeral to be held? You could either choose your new faction or your old faction," Max says looking at his shoes._

 _I take a step back, not liking where this was going. "Yeah, I remember. They do that in every faction."_

 _Max nods. "And your brother said Abnegation."_

 _I freeze._

" _Tris, I'm sorry, but Caleb is dead," Max says and everything blurs into one. I can hear Max still talking but his voice is drowned out by the white noise in my head screaming at me. No, no, no, this cannot be happening, Caleb cannot be dead. He isn't. He mustn't be._

 _I only realise I'm not breathing when I begin to fall backwards as I start to faint._

 _Max grabs my shoulders before I hit the floor and sits me down against the back of the sofa._

" _I did say you should sit down," he mentions, rolling his eyes._

" _Shut up."_

" _Yeah, uh, sorry," he mumbles. "Well, uh, Tris, it's policy that we tell you everything about his death. Caleb's."_

 _I don't say anything._

" _Well, Jeanine said he died seven days ago and was-,"_

 _I cut him off. "Wait, SEVEN days ago?! What took you so long? Couldn't build up the nerve to tell me he'd died, huh?" I shout angrily, jumping to my feet and pacing over to the door, wrenching it open._

" _There was a communications error."_

" _Oh, yeah, I really believe that!" I yell. Max flinches. He walks towards the open door and stops in the frame, one still on the door._

" _Jeanine said he died because of 'his own incompetence and stupidity'. They aren't my words, they're hers," he tells me calmly._

" _I think you should go."_

" _So do I."_

 _And, thankfully, he left. Just as I began to break down into hysterics on the floor, tears streaming down my cheeks. I throw the door shut and sob loudly, praying Christina doesn't come home early from wherever she went._

 _I press my palms into my eyes and try to blink back tears, bawling like a child because that's exactly how I feel. Alone, upset and wanting a hug from my mother. But that will never happen. She's in Abnegation. And I cry some more._

 _When I eventually stand up, I'm shaky and lightheaded and my face is blotchy and red. I inhale a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds before I slowly release, my whole body quaking with nervous energy, brimming with a certain malice I've never experienced before. And I'm so scared of hurting someone._

I shiver at the memory and bury myself further into Tobias, who happily welcomes me into his arms, tugging me into his lap. His arms ago around my waist and shoulders and I wrap mine around his shoulders as he nuzzles his face into the crook of my neck. I gulp before letting out an anxious breath.

"Max was the one who told me," I say, swallowing nervousness. "About Caleb that is."

Tobias pulls away to look me in the eyes.

"It was about nine o'clock at night, Christina had gone out with Marlene, I think. He knocked on my door and came in."

Tobias nods and looks at me sympathetically.

"He told me that Caleb had gone back to Abnegation."

He furrows his brow. "He said it like that?"

I pinch my lips together. "Yeah, I was confused at first, and then he went on to say about how we chose where we wanted out funeral when we first joined the faction. They do the same thing everywhere."

Tobias closes his eyes and exhales. "When is the funeral?"

"No idea. It could've already happen because it took them so bloody long to tell me," I say, before getting filled with unreasonable anger. "I mean, really, how hard is it to tell someone their brother died. Seriously, Max could've just said the day he found out 'Oh, hey Tris, Jeanine told me your brother died!" and that'd have been so much more fucking fair!" I exclaim, irritated, before nestling my face in Tobias's chest again.

"And do you think that would have been better? Do you think you would be less angry if you were told rudely but as soon as it happened?" Tobias asks, with a hint of annoyance that he was unable to mask, though I could tell he had tried to. I don't think he wants to get into a fight.

"I don't know. Maybe!" I grumble, shuffling off his lap and onto the sofa which sinks when I sit on it.

Tobias shakes his head. "I punched a wall when I was told my mother had died," he says plainly. "Marcus told me one night at dinner. Well, _his_ dinner. I just ate leftovers. I remember exactly what he said."

I shake my head. "You don't have to tell me, Tobias."

"No, no, it's fine. 'Your bitch of a mother died, Tobias. Serves that whore right. Now get out of my sight you ungrateful boy,'" Tobias says sadly. "That was a bad night. I punched a dent into the wall – split and fractured my knuckles – he punched me as penance."

I don't say anything. There isn't really anything you can say when somebody says that.

So until it's time for dinner, we don't say anything at all. And that was okay.

 **+++Practice pronunciation properly+++**

I stop outside the entrance to the dining hall **(A/N Is it 'dining hall'? Correct me if I'm wrong)**.

"We don't have to eat here today," Tobias offers, putting his hand on the small of my back. "We can have a night in."

I shake my head. "No, no, it's fine. It'd probably be worse to avoid everyone than to face them. More shameful if I did it like that."

"If you insist."

"Do I look like I've been crying?" I blurt out suddenly and Tobias looks over at me.

He puts his lips close to my ear. "No, Tris," he mumbles. "You look as tough as nails."

I grin. Tobias kisses me on the forehead and we push open the door to the hall. The initiates all divert their attention towards me but I walk straight past them, feigning a confidence I don't really have.

Walking past the silent initiates, I walk purposefully towards the instructors table, sitting down next to Lynn, who's warmed up to me in the past year. She shuffles over to give me more space and I look at her gratefully.

"Brave of you to face the initiates after what happened," Lynn says quietly, only loud enough for me to hear. "We respect that kind of bravery at Dauntless. It isn't daring or completely ridiculous, but it's an accomplishment and it takes some balls to do it."

When Lynn compliments you, you know you have done something right, and I blush a little when she says this. "Thanks."

"I call 'em like I see 'em," she justifies, taking a bite of her burger.

I quickly grab a few slices of pizza and start munching away at them, still slightly concerned that the initiates are still watching me warily. Mekhi keeps flashing me nervous glances that don't do much to reassure me, and Kate can barely peel her eyes away from me. Only when I glare at her does she eventually avert her eyes.

"Where's Christina?" I ask, popping a crust into my mouth.

Lynn shrugs. "She said something about talking to Will."

I nod understandingly. She mentioned something about them having problems, but they'll work it out. Christina is stubborn and will never leave anything alone until the problem is solved and has a result she likes.

"Hey!" Zeke says cheerily, hopping into the seat next to me.

"Why are you so happy?" Lynn demands, as if happiness is illegal.

"Just in a good mood today," he replies coolly, then looking towards Tobias. "Anyway, yo, Four, all the older members – yeah we're old now – are going ziplining tomorrow night. Gonna come?"

"Who will be there?" Four asks, though I doubt he'll go, regardless of whom will be going.

"Tori, Bud, Lauren, Shauna, Harrison, and you, hopefully. Couple of others might join us later Tori said," Zeke says, picking a crumb off his shirt.

"Sorry, man, but I'm planning on staying in all this week – training drains me," Tobias explains, feigning disappointment.

"So what are you going to do then?"

"Absolutely nothing, but that's not the point."

Zeke sighs. "Fine," he relents, "but next time, you HAVE to come with us. "

"Hey, can we come?" Uriah pipes up.

"Nope!" Zeke says, popping the 'p'.

Uriah groans. "Why not?"

"Because you don't classify as 'old' yet," explains Zeke, pinching a slice of cake from Lynn's plate. She grumbles but doesn't try to stop him.

"I'm pretty sure that's a good thing," I point out and Zeke shrugs.

"Old people get privileges."

"Old people are old."

"Fair enough," Zeke says, tipping his head to the side. "Anyway, you're dating someone who classes as 'old', Tris. Whatta you got to say about that, Four?"

Zeke pretends to hold a microphone in front of Tobias's face, who eyes his hands suspiciously, before pawing at them and pushing them to the table.

"Twenty isn't _that_ old," Tobias reasons, raising his eyebrows.

"It's older than them, at least," says Zeke, jerking his head towards Lynn, Uriah and I.

"We have names, you know."

"Yeah, but they don't matter."

"Guys, guys, calm down," I laugh. "Anyway, we still need to subtly tell the initiates to get an early night because of what's happening tomorrow," I finish with a wink.

Zeke perks up. "Ooh! What's happening?"

"Visiting day," Tobias says, "we forgot to tell them when it was. If they were smart they'd have figured it out, though."

"Pfft, thinking is for the Erudite," mocks Zeke.

"Whatever, Zeke, nobody cares," Uriah says, abruptly jumping to his feet and standing on his chair. "We've got some crows to scare." He then proceeds to jump onto the table, offering his hand to Lynn, who accepts it and allows her to be pulled onto the table. Tobias, following Uriah's train of thought, stepped easily onto the table and presented his hand to me. I take it and hop onto the table with them.

The dining hall is organised in such a way that the instructors' table is widthways opposite the initiates' table, so as we strut down the length of the table – Zeke wolf whistling in the distance – all the initiates can easily see us. They quickly stop chattering and divert their attention to us, and the room is suddenly much quieter, though I have a nagging feeling that we silenced more than just who we intended.

Once at the end of the table, the boys jump off and offer their hands again to me and Lynn. We share a glance and raise our eyebrows, dropping effortlessly off the table without their help. Uriah rolls his eyes but Tobias smirks.

"Initiates," I start loudly, striding towards them and resting my elbows on their table, sassily. "Your training today was cancelled due to," I pause, thinking for the right word, then smirk, " _unforeseen circumstances_."

"However, training will be cancelled tomorrow also and I suggest you get incredibly well rested tonight," Tobias says, trying to hide a grin.

"Yeah, guys, lots and lots of rest – you'll need it," finishes with Uriah.

"Because tomorrow, your parents will be visiting you – that's if they still care about you since you left their faction," Lynn remarks absently.

The initiates pale.

"Any questions?"

"Yeah, I got one," Tiff chirps smarmily.

"What?" Tobias asks disinterestedly.

"So, _Six_ , is your real name 'Tris'?"

I raise my eyebrows. "We just told you that your parents would be seeing you tomorrow and you want to know my name? Clearly you have your priorities straight," I say, rolling my eyes. "Regardless of that, why did it surprise you so much? Am I not allowed a name? Did you think I was just a number?"

Some of the initiates mutter things amongst each other.

"So what's Four's real name?" Tiff asks flirtatiously, batting her eyelids. How could she be so stupid as to not figure out that Tobias and I were in a relationship, especially after what Eric said?

Four rolls his eyes and opens his mouth to say something but somebody else gets there first.

"Oh, he is actually 'just a number,'" Zeke says, chuckling. "Nobody knows his real name, do they Four?"

"Nope," Tobias says simply, brushing off Zeke's arm, which had found a home on his shoulder. "Be in the Pit tomorrow at about nine in the morning if you want to see your parents."

"If they decide to turn up – doubt it, though," Zeke remarks, and we all start towards the dining hall exit, talking quietly to ourselves, before we hear a whistle behind us.

We turn to see Shauna with four fingers in her mouth whistling at us. "You guys don't have training tomorrow, do you?" She shouts, loud enough for the initiates to hear.

"Nope!" Uriah replies cheerily.

"D'ya wanna get drunk then?"

 **I know, I haven't written in a while, but I've had a creative crisis. Anyway, I've been inspired by some awesome reviewers (THANK YOU WRITINGVIBES) and other great pieces of fanfic, mostly Sherlock, but nevertheless, great pieces of writing.**

 **REVIEW FOR CHAPTERS!**

 **QOTC (why not): Have you ever been under anaesthetic?**

 **AOTC: Yes, I have. I put my finger in a blender. I wanted to see what would happen.**

 **-Flucy**


	19. Chapter 19

**Guess who's back in business, bitches. Me, bitch. –Flucy**

 **This chapter was hard to write because – as a thirteen year old girl – I've never actually been to a bar or gotten drunk.**

 **This is a bit out of character but I liked it – it made me laugh**

 **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her ideas.**

 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

An hour after Shauna's proposal to go and get drunk, we find ourselves sitting in a bar throwing back shots. I'm certainly enjoying myself, but more than anything, I'm forgetting about Caleb – for now.

As soon as Shauna had asked us whether we wanted to go, Zeke had run towards her screaming, eagerly bouncing up and down like an over-excited puppy. Uriah and Lynn had shared a look and walked over with grins creeping onto their faces. Tobias had buried his head in his hands and it took some coaxing from both me and Zeke to get him to come with us. Christina had turned up and instantly jumped at the opportunity to come a drink with us.

Technically, I'm not the one 'throwing back shots'. Tobias and I cleverly opted out of this part, sticking to gin and tonic. In Dauntless, if you ever go to a bar, somebody has to stay relatively sober to help stop brawls and make sure people don't fall into the Chasm or collapse outside their apartments with half their clothes off.

Lynn and Christina had both changed into very short leather dresses. Christina offered to lend me one of hers, but I declined. She said they were 'slutting it up Chrissy style'. I opted for dark eyeliner and a leather jacket, but that's the best they could do.

It's slightly hard to see what's happening in here. The lighting is dark, the music is loud and it's becoming more and more crowded as the night progresses. My watch beeps at eleven o'clock, which normally tells me to sleep. Now it tells me to wake up.

"You alright?" Tobias says, swivelling on his chair to face me, ignoring the fiasco going on behind him.

I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why'd you ask?"

"You just look a bit," he pauses, "out of it."

I shrug. "I feel fine," I defend, finishing off the rest of my drink in one swig. Tobias watches me.

"What?" I ask him, giggling.

"I am so glad that you're mine," he says, a grin spreading across his face. I watch his pupils dilate and he bites his lip shyly. Confidence surging through me, I slip off my bar stool and clamber onto Tobias's lap, wrapping my legs around his waist. He puts his glass down.

"And I'm so glad that you're mine," I murmur, bordering on seductively. His eyes watch my lips as I talk and his breath hitches as I lean in and close my eyes. I press my mouth to his and melt into him. One of his arms curves around my back. I trace my fingertips up his spine - he shudders and hooks his thumb over the top of my jeans. We keep kissing and he licks my lips, asking for entrance to my mouth; I grant it.

It only gets louder around us, speakers amplifying the already deafening sound of the live band playing in the corner. You can barely hear our soft moans. After what feels like a long time, I break away, heavily breathing, and rest my head against Tobias's. He opens his eyes to meet mine; they're full of lust and his iris is almost entirely black. I give him an endearing little grin and he chuckles.

"That was…"

"Nice?"

"Only 'nice'?"

"You know what I mean."

My lips quirk up into a grin and I kiss Tobias on the forehead, before he looks past me at something happening in the background.

"What's up?" I ask him innocently, too lazy to turn around to see for myself.

"We have ourselves and audience," he says, still avoiding my eyes.

I put my lips close to his ear. "Who?" I whisper, and he shivers.

"Pace," he murmurs into my neck, effectively looking away from the onlookers. "And that Dauntless-born. Jamie, I think. It's a bit fuzzy," he snickers.

I lean back to face him and his hand raises from the top of my low-rise jeans to the small of my back to support me. His lips are parted, swollen and his hair is a mess. "I don't care what _they_ think," I say. "Follow my lead. Spin the stool around, let me face them."

Tobias does as I ask and I look at Pace and Jamie who are attempting to hide their smirks. I make eye contact with them and they instantly pale. I run a hand through my hair and ruffle it, before quirking and eyebrow and biting my lip sexily. Pace blushes deeply but Jamie laughs heartily. As soon as they've – relatively - calmed down, I wink at them before looking back at Tobias and pulling him into another passionate kiss. With no hesitation, he returns the gesture.

"Spin the chair back around," I mumble against his lips. "I haven't finished embarrassing them yet."

He spins us around.

"Put your hand on my butt."

"How much have you drunk?" Tobias jokes, with a hint of genuine concern.

"Shut up and do it. Wink at them if you really want," I order and he does. Slowly, his hand trails to ass and stays there, another roar of laughter erupting from Jamie, presumably because Pace looks so horrified.

"Is that the reaction you wanted?" Tobias asks.

"Yeah," I pant breathlessly, before leaning in for another kiss. I can hear Jamie and Pace talking in the background.

"How drunk do you think they are?" Pace asks, laughing.

"Not as drunk as you'd expect," Jamie says, to which Pace snorts.

"Are they like this all the time? I thought they'd be scary instructors permanently. Like, it's just who they are," ponders Pace, earning a scoff from Jamie.

"Tris, she's cool. Good person," Jamie says. "But, no, Four is always like that. He likes her, though."

"That's pretty evident."

"Yup!" Jamie laughs and they walk away to find someone else to bother. I pull away from Tobias as soon as they leave.

"Were you just using me?" He teases and I slap him on the shoulder.

"You can shut up!" I scoff. "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it."

"I'm not complaining."

I wink and slip off his lap onto my own bar stool, ordering another gin and tonic for both of us. We sip at our drinks, subconsciously tapping our feet and bobbing our heads to the beat of the music as Christina and Uriah dance drunkenly to _Paramore_ , Lynn filming them on her phone. Zeke continues to do shots with Shauna and Lauren, who arrived not too long ago.

I sigh and rest my head on the bar countertop, staring into Tobias's eyes and smiling softly. My head feels slightly fuzzy and I can't focus on anything apart from the fact that this isn't like me. I'm not that girl that gets drunk when they have responsibilities to uphold. I don't normally drink as it is! And if I do decide to drink, I only normally have one glass of something to get tipsy and not seem too uptight.

On the other hand, Tobias can really handle liquor. I remember seeing him with Zeke and Shauna drinking by the Chasm and how inebriated he must've been to be stumbling up to initiates and – sort of – flirting with them.

"Weren't we supposed to be hiding the fact we're in a relationship?" Tobias realizes and my eyes widen in alarm.

"Shit, yeah, hang on," I blurt before jumping to my feet and pushing through the crowd towards Pace and Jamie, both awkwardly standing at the edge of a drunken brawl. I step over the tangle of limbs, unfazed, and walk towards them. They quickly finish their conversation.

"Hey T-Six," Jamie says casually, almost slipping up on my name. Jamie and I had previously met around the compound when I had just initiated and she was still fifteen. We got along pretty well and she called me 'Tris' so I ignore the slip-up.

"It's Tris, it's fine," I slur, rolling my eyes. _Why'd I roll my eyes?_ "Okay, well, whatever, I just wanted to ask you to keep Four and my relationship with him quiet, 'kay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Pace says awkwardly, looking down at her glass, empty aside from a slice of lime.

"Most of the Dauntless-Borns already know you're a thing, you know," Jamie says tipsily. "you managed to keep your relationship a secret for a while."

"Meh," I shrug. "I don't mind _you_ knowing, Pace. I like you. You're cool," I say, drunkenly punching her shoulder.

"Um, thanks?" She offers. I wave her off.

"How much did you drink, Tris? Somebody garbled behind me.

I spin around. "Hey, Lauren," I stumble. "Not that much, actually. Fucking light-weight."

She snorts, latching onto my arm. "Language!" She pulls me away towards Christina, who's leaning on her elbows on the bar. Lauren pushes her way through the crowd, yelling orders over the top of the music. Most people move pretty quickly, no doubt due to their sobriety.

"Trissy!" Christina shouts, opening her arms for a hug. Lauren dumps me in her arms and abandons me, Christina embracing me tightly.

"Chrissy!" I chirp, equally cheerful. I can smell the alcohol on her breath.

"Come with me," she whines, tugging me over to the girls' bathroom. I wrench my arm out of her grip and twist around to see Tobias smirking at me. He waves mockingly at me and I stuck my lower lip out at him. I spin back around and slip into the bathroom after Christina, who meanders over to the basins next to another girl who was applying concealer over red blotches on her face; she's been crying. The girl lifts her chin up and walks towards the exit but I step into her way.

"You okay?" I murmur softly, looking into her eyes with concern.

She nods and gives me a weak smile before scurrying out the door. I shrug and scamper over to Christina's side, who wordlessly hands me a tube of mascara. I roll my eyes but apply some anyway. Christina shoves all her beauty essentials into her clutch before washing her hands and flicking water at me.

"Oi! What was that for?!" I complain, gawking at her.

"Wake. Up," she says, all remnants of the drunk girl on the dance floor vanishing instantly.

"I am awake," I splutter, confused.

"No, no you aren't," Christina sighs. "What's got into you?"

"I'm so confused."

Christina sighs again and roughly grabs both my shoulders and I wince a bit, eyes flitting around the dim room. "Why are you drinking? You never drink! You only drink a lot if you want loosen up or if-," she abruptly stops before straightening up and dusting my shoulders off. "If you're trying to forget something. Tris," she murmurs, realising something.

"What?" I've drunk too much to remember my surname. What the _hell_ did that bartender put in my drink?

"Drinking won't help you get over Caleb," Christina mumbles. _Oh. Ohhh. Well, I did a pretty good job of forgetting!_ I internally laugh and then flinch at my own bluntness.

"It helps me forget," I murmur, wobbling dangerously and falling onto a toilet stall door.

"Shit, Tris, what did you drink?"

I quirk my eyebrow. "I was half-way through my second gin and tonic. I normally get through about four," I giggle, sliding down onto my backside. Christina sits down opposite me.

"Was it spiked?"

I flail my hands about dramatically. "Who knows? I need a drink."

"Ha! Noooo," Christina chuckles warningly.

"…of water."

"Oh. Oh, yeah, that's fine," Christina says, standing up. "Stay there, I'll get you a drink," and with that, she wanders out, leaving me sat on the floor alone.

I start humming tunelessly to myself, tapping my finger on my knee in time to the music in the room next to me. Eventually, Christina returns, a glass of clear liquid in her hand.

"Here you are," she says, handing me the glass.

"What is it?" I ask stupidly, Christina's brow furrowing.

"Uh, it's water?" She tells me, slumping to the ground opposite me once again. I nod and sip at the water, relishing in the taste of basic. _What does 'basic' taste like?!_

"You can talk to us about it, y'know," Christina offers quietly.

"Talk about what?"

"Caleb."

I nod. "Thanks. And sorry. For not telling you and freaking out and reacting badly."

"You have nothing to apologise for," she reassures me, picking at a hangnail.

"Drunk me thinks otherwise."

"I'm surprised drunk you can still think."

I laugh a bit, swirling the water in my cup.

"I think I'm gonna head home," I mumble quietly, draining the last of the drink.

Christina smiles. "'Kay. Four was talking to Zeke the last time I saw him, which was about five minutes ago," she says, only the stench of her breath giving away her state of drunkenness.

I nod again and stand up, wobbling slightly, Christina weakly stabilizing me with her arm. I push the door open and brace myself before stepping into the loudest room known to mankind. In the short space of ten minutes that I've been gone, the volume of the lead guitarist has gone up ten notches and more people are yelling random crap drunkenly.

I shake my head and make my way towards Tobias, who, by the looks of things, hasn't touched another drink since I vanished. I come up behind him and tap on his leather jacketed shoulder and he spins around.

"I'm gonna head home now, Foury," I hiccup.

"I promised Zeke I'd stay for another half an hour or so, but I'm gonna walk you back first," he says, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Can you meet me by the door in five? I need to go pay and say where I'm off – I won't be long."

I hum and we split up, Tobias heading in the opposite direction towards the bar, when a hand is placed on my shoulder again, tugging me around to face the person holding me. Turning around, I'm met by a huge, burly man and two of his friends watching us with grim smiles. My nose crinkles in disgust as the repulsive smell of alcohol and vomit hints my nose as he breathes heavily on me.

"Hey hot stuff," he growls and I scoff before walking away from him. His hand grapples onto my arm and he roughly yanks me back into him.

"Fuck off," I mumble, pulling against him. I can hear his friends catcalling at us in the background.

"Ooh, like it rough do you?" The man purrs, grabbing my waist with his other hand and jerking me into his chest. "I can show you rough," he whispers into my ear in an attempt to be seductive. A crowd has somewhat formed around us.

"I can show you rough, too," I say loudly, and thrust my knee into the man's groin, watching him double over in pain, clutching at his _lower area_ in agony. The audience 'oooh's in amusement and I begin to stalk off, striding towards the door. I audibly groan when yet another hand latches onto my shoulder.

I only have time to turn around before a fist connects with my temple.

Black and white spots dot my vision and I stumble backwards blindly, hands from the audience catching me and pushing me back towards the man. In my temporary incapacitation, another fist drives at me and I leap clumsily out the way into someone's arms to avoid the blow. Two girls help me keep my balance as I catch my breath. _If I hadn't drunk so much I'd have this under control._

I look up at the girls who caught me and meet the eyes of a terrified Pace and a slightly concerned Jamie.

"You have about ten seconds until he comes at you again," Jamie says quickly to me, then turning to Pace. "Get Four."

Pace nods and scampers off, her lanky figure dipping between people and darting through the crowd.

I let out a heavy breath and straighten myself, brushing myself down. I spin back around and stumble forwards towards the man. He grins slyly and cracks his knuckles, taking confident strides over to me. I bend my knees and raise my fists, readying myself to play defensively.

I spring out of the way as fingertips graze my cheekbone, and I pounce on the man's back, the crowd roaring in enjoyment. The man grunts and struggles as I tightly wrap my arms around his neck, steering him into a wall as I shift his balance off. Suddenly, he twists his back, powerfully launching me from his shoulders, propelling me several feet through the air. I land on my spin painfully and my head smacks against the cold floor. I moan and curl up a bit, rolling onto my side to help stop the throbbing in my head.

It doesn't help.

As the man starts towards me again, chuckling, somebody taps his shoulder and he stops immediately, hesitating before turning tentatively around. An ear splitting scream erupts from the man's mouth as someone's - Tobias's - fist connects with his jaw, and in quick succession, another punch to his nose. Tobias sweeps his legs out from beneath him and stamps on his hand before finding me, now hunched over on my knees, swaying precariously.

Tobias slides one hand under my legs and another behind my back and lifts me up into his arms. I groan and roll off him.

"I'm fine," I tell him, shaking as I get to my feet, my vision still speckled with blobs of white.

"You have a concussion," Tobias remarks, holding me up by my shoulders as I lean into him.

"Yeah, I know," I insist. "But I'm fine."

Tobias rolls his eyes. "You are so incredibly stubborn sometimes."

A grin spreads onto my face and I wince, before rubbing my cheekbone. Concern floods through Tobias's face and he brushes his thumb over a cut in my eyebrow.

The audience simmers down and the usual nonsense and chatter returns to the bar, and soon, Tobias and I are consumed in the rabble of Dauntless, all previous excitement over a fight disappearing. Tobias sighs and pulls me into a hug, briefly pressing his lips to my forehead. His hand slides down to just above my waist and he puts his mouth to my ear.

"Shall we get out of here?" He mumbles and traces of a smile sneak onto my face.

"Probably for the best, isn't it?" I mumble, lips swollen and still slightly drunk.

"Yeah, wouldn't want you to get in anymore fights," Tobias jokes as we walk over to the exit.

"Me? Getting into fights? Never."

 **I did actually put my finger in a blender but I didn't manage to cut it off. Unfortunately. I got a nasty scar though and a great conversation starter out of it though.**

 **QOTC: Favourite book/s APART from Divergent/Insurgent/Allegiant/Four**

 **AOTC: Messenger of Fear, probably. Can't think of a book off the top of my head.**


	20. Chapter 20

**School has started again for me so I will not be posting as often anymore. Sorry about that. I might just make the chapters shorter. – Flucy**

 **DISCLAIMER: I am not Veronica Roth. I am simply borrowing her ideas.**

 _ **Tris's P.O.V**_

I wake up tightly enclosed in a pair of warm arms, light breathing making the hair on the back of neck stand on end. Shuffling over onto my side, I face Tobias, still sleeping soundly with his lips slightly parted. My head throbs as sunlight peeks through the curtains and I shut my eyes again, trying to drown out the pounding in my head.

 _What happened last night?_ My entire body aches I tentatively touch the back of my head, hissing in pain when my fingers brush over a bump. I rub my hands over my face and feel a large cut encompassing my cheekbone, probably surrounded by a bruise too. I sigh heavily and Tobias's eyes flutter open, meeting mine.

"Sorry," I whisper, reaching out and pushing his eyelids back down with my fingertips. Tobias chuckles quietly and pries my fingers away from his eyes.

"It's fine," Tobias mumbles sleepily, a grin playing at his lips. "It's about time we get up, anyway. Visiting Day and all that…" he tries to find the right word.

"Crap?" I offer and a smile breaks out on his face.

He raises his eyebrows and nods. "Yeah."

I groan and roll off the edge of the mattress, landing on the floor with a thump and wincing. I shut my eyes and stick my lower lip out sadly, whining like a puppy. When I reopen my eyes, Tobias is peering over the bed, watching me, still cocooned in his duvet.

He shakes his head in disbelief. "You can be so foolish sometimes," he remarks, throwing the duvet off himself and jumping to his feet. He wanders over to his wardrobe throwing the doors open and grabbing the first shirt and pair of jeans he sees. I stare shamelessly at his toned abs, blushing when he wordlessly raises his eyebrows at me.

Still curled up on the floor, I moan. "What happened last night?"

Tobias furrows his brow as he slips his shirt on. "You mean you don't remember?"

"No, I mean I know exactly what happened, I just want to hear the words from _your_ mouth," I retort sarcastically, Tobias holding his hands up in defence.

"You got drunk pretty quickly, Christina gave you a pep talk, you got in a drunken bar brawl with a guy that hit on you-,"

"That explains why I feel like crap."

"-and I saved my damsel in distress."

I splutter and launch myself to my feet. "'Damsel in distress'!?" I exclaim.

Tobias rolls his eyes. "You are mine, you are a damsel, and you were in distress. I saved you."

I scoff. "I'm sure I had the situation under control."

"You don't even remember it you were that drunk. I'm surprised you aren't retching on the floor right now," Tobias points out and I cringe.

"Thank you, for that frankly disgusting mental image," I say, grabbing my spare clothes that I leave at the bottom of Tobias's wardrobe. I look down at myself and notice how I'm only in a bra and a pair of Tobias's boxers. My eyes widen in alarm he snorts as I blush wildly and bury my face in my hands. "What happened last night?!" I groan, realising I slept next to Tobias, both of us in nearly no clothes.

"Nothing that you wouldn't do whilst sober," Tobias says calmly. "I didn't take advantage of you, if that's what you're concerned about."

I shake my head furiously. "The thought never crossed my mind. I'm more worried about how much of this Christina will be able to figure out from just looking at me-,"

"-and how badly she'll fill in the blanks. Candor."

I nod. "Was she pretty wasted too?"

Tobias barks out a laugh. "That'd be putting it mildly."

I grimace. "I'm not gonna think about it."

I leave Tobias to get changed into his clothes and pad into the bathroom, shoving the clothes I grabbed on and haphazardly ruffing my hair, spraying it with hairspray to help it keep its form. I smudge last night's makeup off with the back of my hand and quickly reapply some more, less dramatic makeup.

Exiting the bathroom, a coffee is thrust under my nose and a piece of toast is crushed into my palm, Tobias frantically dashing around his apartment for things. I check my watch and sigh. We're late.

I take a bite out of my toast and head to the door, pulling it open and heading outside, holding the door open for Tobias and he darts out, locking the door behind him.

"Let's go."

Darting down the corridors, Tobias and I sprint through the compound, charging and weaving between the crowds, slices of toast in both our mouths. We barge past people as we run the normally ten minute route to the Pit.

Exploding through the set of double doors into the Pit, a swarm of colours hit our eyes. Adults of all different factions huddle around the transfers, words pouring out their mouths, a constant stream of chatter spilling out from them. Some of the initiates are beaming, thrilled that their parents came to visit them, whereas the rest are skulking in the background disappointedly. Amongst the transfers that weren't visited are Corbin, Amina, Tia and surprisingly, Kate.

Our arrival somehow went unnoticed midst the noise of the gathering, and I notice that Christina, Lynn and Uriah are all missing, probably too hungover to bother with visiting day. I internally roll my eyes, and, leaving Tobias to lean over the railing, I wander over to those who weren't visited, who were clearly just about to leave.

"Transfers," I say, stopping them in their tracks. They all turn around silently. "Your parents didn't come to visit you today. Take this opportunity to understand that we are your new family, and this is your new home. You'd do well to understand that."

The transfers quickly nod and scamper out of the Pit. I sigh and start to wander back to Tobias, but a tall lady dressed white and black stops me with a firm grip on my forearm.

"I understand you've been training my daughter?" She asks, pushing her spectacles further up her nose.

"That depends who your daughter _is_ ," I remark, prying the woman's fingers from my arm. Her slender figure towers over me and I toss my head back cockily.

"Hello," A quiet voice from behind says, and I peer around to see Pace offering a small smile and an uncertain wave. I grin back at her and turn back to the lady I presume to be her mother.

"Yes, I have been overseeing Pace's training with my colleague, Four," I say, gesturing to Tobias.

Her brow furrows. "You mean Pacencia?"

Pace sighs and rubs the back of her neck. "New faction, new name," she justifies. "You know, a fresh start."

"That isn't very honest, Pacencia. Lying about your own name?"

Pace opens her mouth but I quickly snap my reply back at the woman. "With all due respect ma'am," I snarl, "you may have noticed we aren't in Candor, and _Pace_ , had the opportunity to change her name, which she seized."

Pace's mother glares at me and we stare at each other for a minute.

"Pacencia means courage," Pace blurts randomly.

I raise my eyebrows. "What?"

"In Latin," Pace says shaking her head, "Pacencia means 'to endure with courage'. Pace belongs in Dauntless. Pacencia is too… bleugh."

I smirk at Pace and a smile flickers onto her face too.

Her mother huffs. "Regardless of her name, how is _Pace_ ," she says with a cringe, "doing during initiation? I heard it was brutal."

"Oh initiation is definitely savage. It's one of the worst things Dauntless has to offer."

Her mother pales.

"And Pace is smashing every aspect of it."

Colour returns to her cheeks and a sigh of relief escapes her lips.

I smile weakly. "I'll leave you to your reunion."

I stand with Tobias for a few minutes in content silence before I spot someone who shouldn't be here. A flash of grey.

"There's an Abnegation here," I murmur warily to Tobias, concerned that Marcus might have dropped in for a 'pleasant meeting with his son'. He lets out a shaky breath and nods, answering my silent question. Sticking closely together, we start to look for the Abnegation amongst us.

Suddenly, I spot her. Mousy brown hair cascades down her back, trailing down her grey, loose-fitting shirt. She stands off to the side, smiling to herself, watching over the initiates when she notices me. As soon as our eyes meet, I recognise her. Tobias looks at me in confusion as I cover my mouth with my hand, my eyes watering. She looks so different with her hair not in her usual bun and so at ease around people of opposite virtues to her own faction.

"My mother," I choke, trying not to cry with joy. "My mother came."

A small smile creeps onto Tobias's face and he grabs my wrist, holding it limply in his hand. My mother saunters over to me and hesitates before embracing me in a spectacularly brief hug. I try not to hide a frown of disappointment.

"Wouldn't want you to look cuddly and sweet in front of your initiates," she says wisely and I nod. She looks over at Tobias. "Four, was it? Tris's instructor?" She asks, getting my name right first time. I beam.

Tobias nods. "Now her boyfriend."

Her eyebrows shoot up. "You two have some explaining to do!" She exclaims, laughing.

"I know, I know, we'll take you back to our – sort-of – apartment."

"'Sort-of apartment?'"

I chuckle. "I live in two different apartments; Four's, and my best friend's, Christina's."

"What number is it?" She asks eagerly. "I can probably find it and wait for you there."

"It's 87A," Tobias says coolly. "It's on the second floor, over there," he says, pointing to the doors we came through earlier.

"Thanks," my mother says, before sticking her hand out for him to shake. "Call me, Natalie"

Tobias awkwardly shakes her hand and Natalie strides off in the direction of our apartment. He looks at me expectantly.

"I think she used to be Dauntless," I say, shrugging. "I haven't seen any tattoos or anything, but she seems at home here."

"Quite."

We finish milling about in the Pit pretty quickly and leave it to the initiates to show their parents around, only getting stopped once or twice by clueless adults from other factions.

Grabbing a muffin from the dining hall first, we start to head back to Tobias's apartment, quietly pacing down the corridors. I've never really known how he could walk so silently when he's such a big person. Broad and tall and sometimes quite dangerous yet each step he takes seems so careful and meek.

Arriving at the door, I hear my mother laugh loudly, a male, deeper chuckle mixing in with her soprano giggles. Tobias and I both furrow our brows and push open the door to see two red-faced people clutching at their sides in hysterics. My mother rolls about on the couch whilst Zeke doubles-over in laughter. Tobias and I stare at the confusing scene from the doorway, exchanging glances of disbelief. Two worlds colliding.

Zeke waves at us as soon as he notices us, still laughing. "This stif- Abnegation lady was in your apartment when I got here," Zeke explains between deep breaths. "She said her name was… Natasha?"

"Natalie," my mother corrects calmly and Zeke wrinkles his nose.

"Right. Anyway, do you know her? She has a great sense of humour."

I rub the back of my neck. "It's my mother," I say sheepishly and Zeke's eyes widen.

"Wait, what?" Zeke asks incredulously. " _This_ is your mother?!"

"Why is that such a surprise?" I counter defensively.

My mother looks at me, an unreadable expression on her face.

Just then, the door bursts open, a short, dark-skinned woman leaning in the door frame.

"Four," the woman says, before frowning. "And _Zeke_ , by the looks of things. I was looking for you, young man? Have you been here all this time?"

Zeke rolls his eyes. "I got distracted, mom."

My mother mutters something under her breath.

"Who are the guests?" The woman asks Four.

Four clears his throat. "This is my girlfriend Tris-,"

"Obviously."

"-and this is her mother, Natalie Prior, who we didn't actually know was coming today."

The woman's brow furrows. "I'm Hana," she says. "Hana Pedrad."

My mother grins slyly and gets to her feet, her inner Dauntless coming out. "I know." My mother extends a hand for her to shake. "Natalie Raskin."

 _Raskin?_ That must've been her name before she married father. Natalie Raskin. Hana pales, puffing in shock before she launches herself at my mother, tightly embracing her in a hug.

"Nat!" She giggles loudly, burying herself in my mother's shoulder. Zeke, Four and I watch in confusion.

"Han!" My mother laughs, slightly more quietly.

Zeke coughs awkwardly. "Sorry to break up your little…"

"Reunion," my mother and Hana both shout, still giggling.

"Right," Zeke says. "And how do you guys know each other?"

My mother, eyes still fixed on Hana pulls down the top of her loose grey shirt to reveal a tattoo of the Dauntless flames just above her sternum. Zeke and Four gasp but I just smile knowingly. I'd always expected it.

"I used to be in Dauntless," my mother explains.

I'm glad they don't ask why she left.

 **Screw proof reading, I haven't uploaded in over a month. This is probably shit but here you are enjoy, REVIEW, whatever. -Flucy**


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